On Friday, May 6, Union hosted their annual Awards Day program and presented 80 awards in the G.M. Savage Memorial Chapel to honor and reward faculty, staff and graduating seniors.
The awards given included faculty and staff of the year, multiple leadership awards, departmental honors and academic excellence medals.
John T. Netland, provost and vice president for academic affairs, announced the awards for academic excellence medals. Each academic excellence award is given to a graduating senior who is chosen by the faculty over every offered major.
“It’s a great honor, but it wouldn’t have been possible without the continuous support of my professor, friends, and family. They pushed me to excel in an area of study that I love,” Madison Grohler, senior digital media communications award recipient said.
Following the academic excellence awards, Netland proceeded with awarding the research excellence award, given to multiple undergraduate and graduate students across multiple majors.
Many dedicated awards were given, including The Bettye and Kermit Whitaker Award, the Bill Truex Award, Broadman and Holman. Each award has its own set of guidelines for recipients.
After the academic awards were finished, students were awarded for intramural success, servant leadership and Greek scholarships.
The intramural female and male athlete awards went to Hadie Sowell and Drew Logsdon.
The Greek Scholarship Cup is annually given to each fraternity and sorority with the highest average GPA. For the men, Lambda Chi Alpha won, and for the women, Chi Omega won for the 75th year in a row.
After all the student awards were given, staff and faculty of the year awards were presented.
This year’s Gary L. Carter Staff of the Year award was Luanne Powell, senior program director for the school of adult and professional studies.
The winner of the Faculty Researcher of the Year Award was Hal Poe, professor of faith & culture.
Finally, the winner of the Carla D. Sanderson Facility of the year was Santhosh Abraham, associate professor of accounting.
A full list of awards can be found here.
Photo by Laila Al-Hagal
