Since 1934, Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges has furthered the aims of higher education by rewarding and recognizing excellent student leaders for their scholastic and campus/community achievements. West Chester University has supported this national recognition program for many years to acknowledge our outstanding students.A call for “nominations” went out last October, and faculty, staff, and administrators nominated students from across campus to be considered for the award this year. The Who’s Who Selection Committee (Jackie Aliotta, Dr. Mehran Asadi, Dr. Simon Condliffe, Dr. Cathryn Crosby, Dr. Karen Dannessa, Ms. Diane DeVestern, Dr. Christian Penny, Professor Cheryl Schlamb and Ms. Preeti Singh) reviewed all the nominations and selected 65 award winners. Award winners were selected based on the criteria of an excellent record of academic achievement, outstanding campus involvement, leadership, awards, honors and a commitment to community service. Once students were selected by the Committee, the names of the WCU award winners were then forwarded to the National Who’s Who organization.
On March 22, a special program took place in Sykes Student Union Theatre to formally honor the recipients who received the 2009-2010 Who’s Who award. President Greg Weisenstein gave a welcome to the audience of over 150 students, family members, faculty and staff.
Jackie Aliotta, former Who’s Who recipient from last year, gave remarks entitled, “Reflections of the Who’s Who Award.” The GraceNotes performed for the musical interlude with the President, Amy Buckner, leading the group. Dr. Linda Lamwers, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, gave “Greetings” to the students and then introduced the Deans for each of the Colleges, who presented framed certificates to the award winners. Dr. Lori Vermeulen, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences; Dr. John Villella, Associate Dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts; Dr. Donald Barr, Dean of the College of Health Sciences; Dr. Joseph Malak, Dean of the College of Education; and Dr. Christopher Fiorentino, Dean of the College of Business and Public Affairs all congratulated their students on their outstanding achievements. The program ended with a celebratory reception for the audience in the Sykes Student Union Ballrooms.