Geography held its annual graduation reception for the Class of 2012 on Saturday June 16 from 11:30 – 1:30 in the Buchanan Courtyard, directly after the UCSB Commencement ceremony. About 60 guests, including faculty, students, and friends and family of our distinguished graduates, were served light refreshments. Our Chair, Dar Roberts, made a short speech, introduced the faculty in attendance, and presented the various undergraduate awards. This year’s class includes 62 students, 7 of whom have earned the Bachelor of Science degree, 34 earning the Bachelor of Arts degree with a GIS Emphasis, and 21 earning the Bachelor of Arts; 17 of these students have earned the Outstanding Achievement in the Geography Major Award, and 7 of them the Distinction in the Major Award.
THE NICHOLAS BOURDAKIS MEMORIAL AWARD: The Bourdakis Fund was established after the tragic death of Nicholas, who died in February 2001, just after having declared Geography as his major. This award is given to a newly declared Geography major who has the highest GPA. This fund helps keep Nick’s memory alive by supporting future generations of outstanding undergraduate students in Geography at UCSB. Dalin Wang, a Physical Geography major who declared Physical Geography as his major during spring quarter, is this year’s winner.
The Geography Department has established two awards which honor students graduating with superior grade point averages. The first, OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT AS A GEOGRAPHY MAJOR, is awarded to students graduating with a grade point average of 3.5 or higher. Congratulations to Lisa Berry, Alex Brotman, Conor Coady, Jessica Conti, Stephen Gee, Seth Gorelik, Michael Hinrichs, Julia Holtzclaw, Bryan Karaffa, Kayee Leung, William McBride, Tina Nguyen, Mark O’Connor, Adam Rottman-Hipps, Stephanie Truitt, Rebecca Whitley, and Colin Twohig.
The high honor of DISTINCTION IN THE MAJOR is awarded to students who are graduating with an overall GPA of 3.5 and a GPA of 3.6 or higher in Geography classes. In addition, these students have undertaken a major independent study project and/or graduate-level studies. This year we honor seven students who have achieved this distinction: Lisa Berry, Stephen Gee, Seth Gorelik, Michael Hinrichs, Adam Rottman-Hipps, Stephanie Truitt, and Colin Twohig.
THE CHAIR’S DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD is presented to students who do service to the department that is above and beyond their call of duty. This year, the award was given to Felicia Bill, Bryan Karaffa, and Colin Twohig, all of whom have made generous contributions of their time and talents to the department.
THE CHAIR’S AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN GEOGRAPHY, which is awarded to a graduating senior majoring in Geography who has attained the highest overall grade point average, went to Adam Rottman-Hipps. Adam is a previous recipient of the Jack and Laura Dangermond Undergraduate Fellowship and received both the Outstanding Achievement and Distinction in the Major awards this year.
Congratulations to all!
Article and photos by Karl Antonsson, Undergraduate Adviser for the Department of Geography. For more photos, see our Event Photos page.
