Arcadia University celebrated academic achievement and scholastic excellence at the 2019 Honors Convocation on March 30. More than 1,000 students earned distinguished honors and honors in the spring and fall 2018, and 59 student and faculty awards were presented.

President Ajay Nair addressed the University community, which included the families and friends of award winners and honors students, with the tale of how Dr. Ellington Beavers’ intellectual inquiry led to the largest gift in Arcadia’s history. He encouraged students and faculty to not be dissuaded by negativity in their pursuit of scholarship.

“Arcadia’s vision is one where our learning community reflects the world in which we want to live, and we want our scholars to be intellectually fearless in their discovery,” said Dr. Nair. “Today, we are truly celebrating the byproducts of your intellectual fearlessness and discovery. Your stellar grades and academic awards and honors are simply byproducts—well-deserved recognitions of your work that you should take pride in. But as Arcadia scholars, I know you will not be satisfied with accolades alone.”

Student speaker Claire A. Murtha ’19, a Criminal Justice major who will attend Penn State Dickinson Law School upon graduation, encouraged her peers to remain adaptable as they move forward with their research and into new eras of their lives.

“When one part of your life ends, the lessons you learned and the person you were does not have to end as well,” she said, relating this to her experience studying abroad. “The lessons I learned abroad did not stay at the boarding gate when I got on the plane, they came home with me. I’m adaptable…. Stay true to who you are.”

Dr. Eleonora Bartoli, professor of Psychology and director of the Counseling program, was recognized with the Provost Award for Outstanding Advising and Mentoring; Dr. Alison Clabaugh, adjunct professor of Psychology, received the Arcadia University Adjunct Faculty Award; and Dr. Katie DiSantis, associate professor of Public Health, earned the Christian R. & Mary F. Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching, which is a student-nominated award for full-time faculty.

In addition, the University’s Phi Kappa Phi and Alpha Epsilon Lambda, honor societies for seniors and graduate students, respectively, welcomed 76 inductees. Seniors must be in the top 10 percent of their class to be inducted into Phi Kappa Phi, while graduate students must be in the upper 10 percent of their program for Alpha Epsilon Lambda.