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The 2010 Honors Convocation was more than an awards ceremony this year. There were tears and touching moments, cheers and excitement as students and professors were acknowledged for their excellence. Wayne State med student LaMyra Dorsey fought tears as she approached the stage at the award ceremony held April 16 at General Lectures to accept the Humanitarian Award established only this year by the college specifically to acknowledge Dorsey’s actions taken on the morning of Dec. 7, 2009. Gerald Thompkins, associate dean of students, described what happened that morning to students, faculty, staff, family and friends in the audience. Dorsey was driving south on the John C. Lodge Freeway (M-10) on her way to Wayne State when she noticed the car in front of her slow down, veer into the median and continue to hit against it before coming to a stop. Despite risk to herself and her unborn child — she was eight months pregnant — Dorsey, a former military emergency medical technician, pulled over to help the stranger. The man turned out to be Ralph H. Kummler, the former dean of the college, who had suffered a fatal heart-attack. Vanda Ametlli, Engineering Student Faculty Board (ESFB) president, presided over the event. Ametlli herself took home the EAA Outstanding Senior Award and was one of four students recognized for the Robert G. Wingerter Award, both sponsored by the Engineering Alumni Association for academic achievement and service. The other Wingerter award recipients were Lovepreet Kaur (electrical and computer engineering), Bradley Martens (electrical engineering) and Jonathan Szokola (mechanical engineering). Devin Partrich (civil and environmental engineering) came away like a “rookie of the year.” After cleaning up four awards (the EAA Freshman Award, Tau Beta Pi’s Outstanding Freshman Scholarship, the ESFB Community Service Award and the Marvin I. Danto Annual Scholarship) — not to mention making the Dean’s Honors List 2009 — the freshman felt so overwhelmed that it brought tears to her eyes. “It’s a feeling of satisfaction to know that that many people recognize what I do,” says Partrich. “I do it for myself to push myself. Because my whole goal my entire life was to get an education…To know that this many people have faith and hope in me, I know I have so many people counting on me. And I don’t want to let them down or let myself down.” Of the major undergraduate engineering fields (chemical, industrial, civil, mechanical, electrical and computer), five juniors and five seniors were recognized for Highest Scholastic Averages. Nicholas Triglia, a third-year mechanical engineering student, held a straight 4.0 GPA. Assistant Professor Caisheng Wang received the Engineering Technology Excellence in Teaching Award, as did part-time faculty member Tommy White (industrial engineering). Kristian Brown (biomedical engineering) received the Ralph H. Kummler Award for Distinguished Achievement in Graduate Student Research. The award was established this year to honor Kummler. The Outstanding Faculty Service Award winners were: Weiping Ren (biomedical engineering), Robert Erlandson (electrical engineering), Gina Shreve (chemical engineering), Alper Murat (industrial engineering), Thomas Heidtke (civil engineering) and Sean Wu (mechanical engineering). Biomedical engineering graduate research assistants Aditya Belwadi and Rachel Kast were selected to receive Albert I. King Endowed Scholarships. Finally, the students bestowed Thompkins with the Distinguished Faculty Service Award. Paul Sgriccia, MSCEE’97, set the tone for the ceremony as the “dean for a day” when he delivered the keynote speech. “It’s a great time to be an engineer,” Sgriccia said. He noted that different engineering disciplines will lead the future because many industries, including manufacturing and automotive, will need the skills and technologies provided by engineers. Sgriccia shared 10 “pearls” of advice. He asked students to continue to learn, have a 5 or 10-year plan and be prepared for change, among his suggested rules to live by. For a full list of award recipients, click here. |