30 students were honored with the Dean's Scholar Award – the highest award presented by the iSchool to recognize academic excellence at the undergraduate level.

By: Diane Stirling
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Outstanding members of the School of Information Studies (iSchool) Class of 2015 were recognized for a wide range of achievements at the School of Information Studies during its 119th commencement ceremonies this past weekend.

Honored for their academic excellence in the classroom, in service to the community, on special projects, as well as their innovative scholarship, were the following graduates.

Brian Garber was awarded the Donald A. and Joyce P. Marchand Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement. The award was established by former iSchool Dean Don Marchand and his wife, Joyce, to recognize an outstanding senior based on scholastic achievement.

The Katie Bennett Undergraduate Leadership Award, recognizing an outstanding senior for overall contributions to the school, was awarded to Hailey-Margaret Temple.

Among the 2015 class members was a Syracuse University Scholar, Jonathan Lee. The award is the highest undergraduate academic honor bestowed by Syracuse University.

Master’s Degree Prizes (awards to students demonstrating academic excellence in class and projects):

  • Melissa Delia– M.S. in Information Management
  • Rio Indra Maulana– M.S. in Telecommunications and Network Management
  • Chad Harper– M.S. in Library and information Science
  • Kathryn Justus– M.S. in Library and Information Science – School Media Specialization.

Doctoral Prizes (recognizing the best doctoral theses and the outstanding academic contributions of a Ph.D. and a DPS student): are Jian Tang (Ph.D); and Charles Milhollan (DPS).

The Ante Lemke Book Award (named for Emerita professor Antje Lemke), recognizes an outstanding student in the Master of Library and Information Science degree program who exhibits a passion for learning and dedication to service.The award was presented to Arden Kirkland.

The Graduate Leadership Award (recognizing exceptional scholarship, service, and commitment to the school by a graduate student) was presented to Yi Lang.

The John Weitzel Award for Information Systems is presented in memory of former faculty member John Weitzel, and is designed to recognize students who exhibit excellence in information systems through coursework or research projects. This year’s graduate student recipient was Rakesh Balakrishnan. The undergraduate recipient selected was: Ross Lazerowitz.

This year, the Amy Everett Award for Information Ethics was presented to two students: Sean Cheatham and Nick Lehrman. The award is presented to students who write an outstanding paper on ethical issues in information management, or who undertake a project that requires exceptional regard for the ethical concerns of their project situation. The award is named in memory of Amy Everett G ’85.

May Wohlafka was presented with the Angela De Silva Inspirational Achievement Award. The honor recognizes a school media graduate who has overcome obstacles and persisted to achieve his/her degree, and who shares Angela’s determination and resilience.

Two graduates were awarded the Undergraduate Service Award, recognizing seniors who exemplify a priority to serve others in their daily life. They are: Malcolm Carayol and Elizabeth Griffin.

Dean’s Scholars

Named as Dean’s Scholar Award recipients were 30 undergraduates, who were honored with the highest award presented by the School of Information Studies to recognize academic excellence at the undergraduate level.

The award was presented to Terrance Andersen, Jacqueline Barr, Nicholas Blumen, Dingjie Cai, Xuening Chen, Davis Cho, Joseph Creighton, Eleni Dimitriou, Shuduo Fang, William Gallagher, Brian Garber, Aaron Goldsmith, Linda Gorman, Jacob Greiner, Elizabeth Griffin, Jacqueline Grossman, Pan Gu, Jacob Hazard, William Kajos, Jun Bum Kim, Jonathan Lee, Nicholas Lee, Han Li, Richard Marshall, Conor McGovern, Michael Reed, Matthew Rice, Ruizhen Shen, Lindsey Silverman, and Kevin Whigham.

Alumni Class Leaders

Forty-eight graduates were named Alumni Class Leaders, a recognition that indicates recognition for academic success, involvement in academic and extracurricular programs, and their interest in networking with alumni as well as prospective students.

They are: Jackie Barr, Shujin Cao, Malcolm Carayol, Raja Chalasani, Lydia Chen, Davis Cho, Shweta Chogale, Thaney Cockrell, Bret Costain, Joseph Creighton, Pooja Dalvi, Amey Duduskar, Michelle Gatson, Brian Garber, and Aravind Gopalalkrishnan, Benjamin Hansen, Parinita Hegde, Alexandra Heidler, Lydia Herring-Harrington, Kathryn Justus, Philip Jor, Supreet Kaur, Keshav Khandelwal, Rhea Khanna, Samuel Lalrinhlua, Jonathan Lee, Zibo Li, Chen Liu, Yang Liu, Rio Maulana, Arun Nair, Bhavik Patel, Andrew Pregler, Ketan Shah, Neha Shirude, Lindsey Silverman, Vishal Suman, David Skoler, Kyle Stofka, John Szczech, Hailey-Margaret Temple, Rahul Tiwari, Chichen Wang, Wenting Wang, Ronald Wilson, Jonathan Yancor, Yi Yang, and Dongping Zhang.       

Holding the title of class marshals for the Class of 2015 were Joseph Creighton and Lindsey Silverman.

Named as Class Act representatives for the graduating class were Kyle Fenton and Hailey-Margaret Temple.