CLAS congratulates the following students who were recognized for excellence at the University of Iowa's 2015 Hancher-Finkbine Dinner, held on May 5:
Elaine Boosalis: Ray Faculty Representative Award
Elaine Boosalis is a senior majoring in human physiology from Maple Grove, Minnesota.
As a member of the UI Women’s Swimming and Diving team, she competed in backstroke, butterfly, and relay events. In 2011-12 she swam collegiate best times in the 200 butterfly (2:04.91) and 400 individual medley (4:25.45) at the Big Ten Championships. In 2013-14, she recorded 14 top-10 times, including a victory in the 500-free against Western Illinois. Boosalis has posted times that rank eighth in the 400-individual medley and 200 backstroke and ninth in the 200-individual medley in Iowa history.
Boosalis has been named twice as an Academic All-Big Ten and Big Ten Distinguished Scholar and is a three-time letter winner. She also served as team co-captain during the 2012-13 season.
Joelle Marie Brown: Undergraduate Distinguished Student Leader Certificate
Joelle Marie Brown is a senior double majoring in journalism and mass communication and political science from Sheldon, Iowa. Brown is the recipient of numerous merit-based scholarships, including the UI Old Gold Scholarship, and has excelled in her double major earning additional scholarships from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, as well as the Political Science and Journalism and Mass Communication departments.
Brown has been a UISG senator and served as governmental relations liaison. In this role, she led a campus-wide thank you campaign for legislators after working tirelessly to secure an in-state tuition freeze. She also has served as the president of the Hawkeye Caucus student organization for two years, where she organized and led Hawkeye Caucus Day, a legislative trip of more than 100 UI students to the Iowa State Capitol to advocate on behalf of the university.
While serving as a member of the International Student Climate Committee, Brown also helped to evaluate international student experiences on campus. She was instrumental in establishing the new International Student Advisory Board to provide insight into the needs of international students, and she created the International Student Welcome Night to bring together international students and domestic students.
Julia Julstrom-Agoyo: Philip G. Hubbard Undergraduate Human Rights Award
Julia Julstrom-Agoyo, from Chicago, Illinois, is a senior majoring in international studies (human rights). She has been involved in efforts to protect and promote human rights since her first year at the UI.
This past year, Julstrom-Agoyo has served as an intern with the UI Center for the Human Rights. She led a project to organize a “community dinner,” pairing student organization leaders with leading human service and human rights non-profit organizations in our community to raise awareness about the need for human rights education and to build common cause to pursue this endeavor across diverse constituencies. More than 300 individuals attended this event and a series of dialogue groups emerged to continue organizational efforts across the community.
Julstrom-Agoyo also actively assisted with a multi-year project to identify and interview refugees in the state of Iowa who wished to share their stories of resettlement for potential publication. She was also instrumental in establishing the Human Rights Student Collective, an umbrella student organization for diverse student groups working on human rights issues.
Janet Marie Lawler: Undergraduate Distinguished Student Leader Certificate
Janet Marie Lawler, from Northwood, Iowa, is a senior triple majoring in political science, journalism, and classics. Lawler is a member of University Honors Program and has conducted research with professors in the UI Department of Political Science and the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, in each case applying cross-disciplinary technique and theory.
She has received many scholarships, including: the E. Jack and Ailene Liechty Scholarship (awarded to women journalists with high academic performance), the Molly and Joseph Gaylord Scholarship for Journalism, the Phil Currie Scholarship for Photojournalism, and the 2013 UI Foundation Political Science Development Fund Scholarship.
Lawler was co-president of the Iowa chapter of Eta Sigma Phi, the classics honor society, and continues to support the group. She currently serves as a Latin tutor. This past year, Lawler also served in an executive leadership role in the UISG as communication specialist. In this role, she spearheaded, organized, and directed many of UISG’s community and outreach events from planning smaller events such as “Managing your Midterms,” to managing outreach on highly salient issues such as policing, sexual assault, and racial discrimination on campus. Lawler has also served on other committees to improve the student experience including the Campus Education Subcommittee and the University Libraries Presidential Charter Committee.
Fidencio Martinez Perez: Philip G. Hubbard Graduate/Professional Human Rights Award
Fidencio Martinez Perez, from Wilmington, North Carolina, is working toward his MFA in painting and drawing in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
Perez has been involved with the Center for Worker Justice since fall of 2013, helping workers and former workers collect wages that have been withheld due to illegal practices by a number of local businesses. This past year, Perez helped undocumented workers who had been fired after they complained about their wages being held and, at times, stolen by management, and he worked with the center on a larger case, helping a young working mother who was owed back pay.
In December 2014, Perez was nominated to and now currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Center for Worker Justice. He has also been active on a large campaign to get community ID’s for Iowa City and neighboring communities by outreaching to representatives in the community — most recently the mayor of North Liberty.
Perez also created, with two others, a project called Invisible Faces: Identity Portraits. This project, broken into three parts, photography, printmaking, and sculpture/installations, provides participants an opportunity to reflect on immigration, talk about issues that matter, and learn about art.
Courtney Leigh Paulsen: Undergraduate Distinguished Student Leader Certificate
Courtney Leigh Paulsen, from Lakeville, Minnesota, is a senior double major in industrial engineering and dance with a minor in business administration.
Last fall, Paulsen was selected to represent dance on an advisory committee to form the NEXUS of Engineering and Art at the UI. She has played a formative role in this exciting initiative, which will create new collaborations among engineering and art students. She has also participated in the local chapter of the Institute of Industrial Engineers, serving as president as a sophomore and as the executive director of the board for two years. During her presidency, she led many initiatives focused on gaining new members and providing more opportunities for students. As the executive director of the board, Paulsen led a long term planning process to strengthen and clarify goals for the organization and collaborated with the Engineering Student Council to create a new Engineering Week Olympics event.
Paulsen has also served as an engineering peer advisor, an engineering student ambassador, a leader and a captain for On Iowa!, and the vice president of the undergraduate dance organization.
Michael Vinyard: Ray Faculty Representative Award
Michael Vinyard is a junior majoring in chemistry from Carmel, Indiana.
As a member of the UI Men’s Swimming and Diving team, Vinyard competed in butterfly and individual medley. At Iowa, he posted several collegiate best times. In the 2013-14 season he swam his collegiate-best times in the 100-butterfly (51.99) at the Hawkeye Invitational and in the 1,000-free (10.21.70) at the Intrasquad meet. In the 2012-2013 season, he also posted a pair of top-five finishes.
A recipient of the Nile Kinnick Memorial Scholarship, Vinyard is a two-time Academic All-Big Ten and Big Ten Distinguished Scholar, has lettered for the past three years, and is a 2015 NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship nominee. He also served as a co-captain of the team during the 2012-2013 season, and he qualified for the 2012 Olympic Trials.