News from the Hill, Spring 2013
Spotlight on commencement speaker and Chancellor’s Honors
US ambassador and UT alumna Scobey to speak at commencement
Former United States ambassador and UT alumna Margaret Scobey will be the keynote speaker for the College of Arts and Sciences commencement on May 10.
Scobey retired from the US Foreign Service in December 2012 at the rank of career minister. During more than thirty years of service, she served as the US ambassador to the Arab Republic of Egypt from April 2008 until July 2011 and as the US ambassador to Syria from December 2003 until February 2005, when she was recalled in reaction to the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. Her last assignment was as deputy commandant at the Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Management at the National Defense University in Washington, DC.
Scobey served as political counselor in Baghdad in 2006 and 2007 and as deputy chief of mission at the US Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from September 2001 through November 2003. She also served as director of the Office of Arabian Peninsula Affairs in the Department of State and deputy chief of mission in Sanaa, Yemen, with earlier assignments in Jerusalem, Kuwait, Pakistan, and Peru.
In the Department of State, Scobey was staff assistant to the assistant secretary of Near East and South Asian affairs, watch officer in the Operations Center, political-military officer in the Office of Israel and Arab-Israeli Affairs, and deputy director of the Secretariat Staff.
Scobey was born in Memphis. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in history from UT, where she also received her master’s degree. She pursued doctoral studies in history at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor before joining the Foreign Service.
College students, faculty, staff, and alumna win Chancellor’s Honors
Faculty, staff, students, and one alumna of the College of Arts and Sciences received Chancellor’s Honors awards to recognize their extraordinary achievements.
STUDENTS
Jon Carleton, senior in English literature
Blair Kuykendall, senior in international law and economics
Will Logan, senior in language and world business
Adam Roddy, political science major
Nia Sherif, psychology and sociology major
Extraordinary Campus Leadership & Service
Eric Goins, senior in psychology
Justina Jones, senior in political science and communication studies
Laura Ketola, senior in psychology
Jazmin Moore, senior in psychology
Cheshire Rigler, senior in geology
Taylor Thomas, senior in philosophy
Extraordinary Community Service
Jessica Nicole Welch, doctoral student in ecology and evolutionary biology
Graduate researchers in ecology, behavior, and evolution
Extraordinary Academic Achievement
Lisa Kaitlin Dicker
Hannah Elizabeth Durick
Isham Cason Hewgley IV
Alexander Lee Houck
Miranda H. Jones
Rachel Naramore
Alexander Matthew Perhac
Rachel Ann Radford
Extraordinary Graduate Student Teaching
Meg Burress, graduate teaching assistant in modern foreign languages and literatures
Carolyn Wisniewski, assistant director of first-year composition and doctoral student in English
Extraordinary Professional Promise
Alexander Wesley Cline
Emily Rose Finan
Christian Anton Gerard
Nirmal Jeevi Ghimire
Kristen Nicole Holbrook
Kelly A. Kerwin
Burton K. Mandrell
Stanley Vincent Paulauskas
Alissa R. Reeves
Ryan C. Shorey
Alexander Charles Woods
Gene Mitchell Gray Pioneer Award
Melanie Barron, doctoral student and graduate teaching associate in geography
Elizabeth Altizer
Raven Charlotte Chavanne
Whitney Ariel Hammond
Erika Marie Johnson
Andrea Keesecker
Sarah Monberg
Brent Sterling
Brooke Watson
Desiree Nicole Ancar
Madelyn Elizabeth Crawford
Isham Cason Hewgley
Molly Elise Hunt
Miranda Jones
Blair West Kuykendall
Hannah Elizabeth Long
Emily Clare Manneschmidt
Samantha McElfresh
Rachel Ann Radford
Eric Herman Schmidt
Aaron Michael Searcy
FACULTY AND STAFF
Cynthia Peterson, associate dean of academic personnel and Kenneth and Blaire Mossman Professor of Biomedicine
Extraordinary Community Service
Kenneth McFarland, lecturer in biology
Extraordinary Service to the University
Cheryl Travis, professor of psychology and chair of women’s studies
Lee Riedinger, professor of physics
Paul Gellert, associate professor of sociology
Multidisciplinary Research Award
George Schweitzer, Alumni Distiguished Service Professor of Chemistry (with Merry Koschan, Chuck Melcher, Laurence Miller, Dayakar Penumadu, and Mariya Zhuravleva, all of the College of Engineering)
Research and Creative Achievement
Nancy Henry, professor of English
Gregory Stuart, professor of psychology
Professional Promise in Research and Creative Achievement
Paul Armsworth, assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology
Micah Jessup, assistant professor of earth and planetary sciences
Norman Manella, assistant professor of physics
Gary McCracken, James R. Cox Professor and head of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Excellence in Advising—Graduate
Brent Mallinckrodt, professor of counseling psychology
Excellence in Advising—Undergraduate
Mary Anne Hoskins, associate director of advising
Shanna Pendergast, advisor
Kelly Baker, lecturer in religious studies and American studies
Les Essif, professor of French and chair of French studies
Megan Bryson, lecturer in religious studies
Will Jennings, lecturer in political science
ALUMNI
Rosemary Gillespie, 1986 doctoral graduate
