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Eight Outstanding Students Honored With Class Awards

The college is fortunate to have three endowed funds that make possible annual awards of $500 apiece to outstanding men and women in the sophomore, junior and senior classes.

The awards, based on the students’ prior year’s achievements, take into account scholarship, moral character, and contributions to student life and the general welfare of the college. A committee convened by the Office of the Dean of Students makes the selections.

The awards and recipients are as follows:

The freshman award was established in 1955 in memory of Charles W. List ’08. This year’s awardees are sophomores Thomas J. Mialkos of Los Angeles, and Surya Kalra of Sterling, Ill., both undeclared majors. An international student from Poland, Mialkos maintained a 3.88 grade point average while carrying 22 units. He is co-founder and president of the Entrepreneurs Association, a campus group that has attracted more than 100 student members and the cooperation of local business leaders. Kalra has demonstrated her passion for diversity and social justice through her involvement in a wide ranch of Intercultural Center programs. Her leadership qualities have been demonstrated through her service on the Dean of Students’ Advisory Group and her selection as an ICC program assistant.

The Cynthia Cox Memorial Award for sophomores is presented in recognition of an alumna of the Class of 1972. It was established in 1980 by her parents and friends. This year’s awardees are Lisa M. Krutky, a diplomacy and world affairs major from Akron, Ohio; S. Shumway Marshall, an Amherst, N.H., resident with a double major in French and art history/visual arts; Elisha N. Roberts, a politics major from Denver; and Robert J. Wallace, a diplomacy and world affairs major from Hilliard, Ohio.

Krutky’s leadership activities range from serving on the President’s Advisory Committee and as managing editor of the international relations journal, Perspectives, to tutoring with Oxy’s Community Literacy Center and organizing an AIDS Walk with the Delta Omnicron Tau sorority and the Black Student Alliance. Marshall’s leadership involvement in the Sons and Brothers group and with Oxy Out has contributed to the success of such activities as Take Back the Night and the Sexual Ethnics Forum.

Roberts is widely regarded by faculty as “a passionate and thoughtful student” and “a great asset” to the Occidental community.” This is reflected not only in her active contribution to the women of color discussion group, but through her role as an Alumni & Community Relations program assistant. Wallace is co-founder of the Students United for Peace group and is active in the Anti-War Coalition. He also works on an elementary school project to promote peace among children.

The junior class award was established in 1955 in memory of alumnus and trustee Daniel Stewart Hammack ’05. Later, after the death in 1973 of alumnus and trustee Daniel Hammack Jr. ’35, the award memorialized the younger Hammack. This year’s Hammack awardees are seniors Rachel L. Hendrickson, an English and comparative literary studies major from Homer, Alaska, and Jeffrey D. Grosvenor, an art history and visual arts major from Flagstaff, Ariz.

Hendrickson’s talents range from the academic to the athletic. She works as a teacher’s assistant in the laboratory portion of Zoology 110, pursues microbial research in the Biology Department, and serves as vice president of the Pre-Dental Society. An outstanding swimmer, she is a NCAA Nationals qualifier and holder of five school records. Grosvenor has been named to the dean’s list every semester he has spent at Occidental. He has served as an officer of Hillel, as a student government senator, and as orientation core leader. While serving as a Student Life program assistant, he was instrumental in creating the Perspectives and Perceptions Series on Middle East Peace.