Convocation Spotlights Student, Faculty and Athletic Achievement

Friday, Aug 30, 2013

Student, faculty and athletic achievements from the past academic year were highlighted at the Opening Fall Convocation on August 29 in the Yvonne Theater.

by Sean Ramsden

Rider President Mordechai Rozanski touted numerous examples of student, faculty and athletic achievement form the past academic year during a presentation at the Opening Fall Convocation on Thursday, August 29, in the Yvonne Theater.

Those highlighted include award-winning student accomplishments, league championships by several varsity teams, and several prestigious appointments for faculty members.

Student Achievements

  • Amanda Schott (Graduate Level Teacher Preparation, ’13) and Jami Centrella (Elementary Education and English ’13) selected as N.J. Distinguished Student Teachers for 2013. Fourth consecutive year that Rider graduates have been recognized as N.J. Distinguished Student Teachers.
  • Clarissa Beck (Accounting, ’13) part of international team taking second place at the sixth annual institute of internal Auditors Case Competition in Orlando, Fla. Clarissa interned at KPMG this summer before entering the M.Acc. program.
  • Carolina Sanchez (Music Theatre, ’13) cast in West Side Story on national tour in the part of Rosalia and understudy for Maria. Nearly 50 percent of music theatre majors cast this summer in regional productions across the country.
  • The Model United Nations Team won Outstanding Delegation and Outstanding Position Paper at the Model United Nations for the fifth year in a row.
  • Thirteen students inducted in the National Honor Society for Dance Arts (NHSDA) Collegiate Chapter in February.
  • Josephine Boyle (Global Studies, ’15) and Rachel Safer (Global Studies, ’15) at Summer School on Transitional Justice workshop at University of Ulster. Two of just three undergraduate students invited from universities around the world.
  • Travis Maiuro (English and Cinema Studies, ’14) won “three bests”: student paper, student screenplay and student film at 2013 Film and Media Studies/Cinema Studies annual symposium. First Rider student to earn this distinction.
  • Anna Lenti (Choral Conducting, ’13) and Drew Lusher (Music Education, ’14) selected as National Semifinalists in the American Choral Director’s Association Conducting Competition.
  • The Rider News won 11 Collegiate Press Awards, including first place in the “General Excellence” category. Six staffers also received one or more first-place nods, including Katie Zeck (Elementary Education & Journalism, ’14), Joe Petrizzo (Journalism’13), Nicole Veenstra (Journalism, ’13), David Pavlak (Business Communication, ’13), Kristy Grinere (Journalism ’13), and Maggie Sarlo (Accounting,’13).
  • Danyelle Johnson, (B.A. in Graphic Design and B.A. in Fine Arts, ’13) had internships with Seventeen magazine’s art director and with Arcade Publishing.
  • Hannah Strong (Music, ’14) organized tree planting at WCC this year. As a result, WCC has been awarded the designation, “Tree Campus USA.”
  • Twenty-four McNair Fellowship students (96 percent of all) made poster/oral presentations at the Society for Research in Child Development, New England Psychological Assoc., Assoc. for Psychological Science Convention, and Eastern Psychological Assoc.
  • Howard Furman (Human Resource Management, ’15) named Northeast Province Collegian of the Year by the Delta Sigma Pi professional fraternity.
  • Lisa Carrasquillo (Elementary Education/Psychology, ’12), Kristina Crossan, (Elementary Education/Psychology, ’13), and Alexandra Martini (Elementary Education, ’13) first Rider students doing international student teaching experience (at the American International School in Barcelona, Spain).

Athletics Achievements

Faculty and Staff Achievements

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