Students Honored for Writing Excellence

Awards are given to students whose work embodies the ideals and standards of excellence, creative endeavor, and scholarship championed by the Rochester Institute of Technology. Selections and awards are made by faculty committees in each department within the College of Liberal Arts.

Imani de las Casas and Faith Valentine received this year's Mary C. Sullivan Woman and Gender Studies Award, an honor of the late Dr. Mary C. Sullivan, the esteemed first female Dean of RIT’s College of Liberal Arts, who served 1977 to 1987.

Other awards included the Henry and Mary Kearse Writing Award, created in 1980 thanks to a donation from Henry J. Kearse, founder and president of the construction firm H.J. Kearse Inc., and his wife, Mary, a longtime member of RIT’s Nathaniel Rochester Society, and an award named in honor of Stan McKenzie, also a former dean of the College of Liberal Arts.

Henry and Mary Kearse Writing Award Recipients:

• Kai Schiesel; Lockport, NY; College of Liberal Arts, Museum Studies, second-year student
• Noah Baumgaertel; Brooklyn, NY; College of Liberal Arts, Political Science and School of Individualized Studies, Individualized Studies, fourth-year student
• Mitchell Rieder; Framingham, MA; Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences, Computer Science and College of Liberal Arts, Economics, fourth-year student
• Marigold Parson; Brookville, Pa; Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences, Software Engineering, fourth-year student
• Daniel Held; Bourne, MA; College of Liberal Arts, History, third-year student
• Ming Creekmore; The Woodlands, TX; Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences, Computer Science and College of Liberal Arts, Applied Modern Language and Culture-Chinese, fifth-year student
• Sebastian Arciniegas Perez; Ecuador; College of Art and Design, Photographic and Imaging Arts, fourth-year student
• Nickolas Medina; Vineland, NJ; College of Liberal Arts, Political Science, fourth-year student
• Saavan Tandon; Herndon, VA; Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences, New Media Interactive Development, third-year student
• Aidan Liddell; Syracuse, NY; College of Science, Biochemistry, fourth-year student
• Claire Gallucci; Rochester, NY; College of Liberal Arts, Museum Studies and Sociology & Anthropology, fourth-year student
• Galena Wurtzel; Narberth, PA; College of Art and Design, Film and Animation, third-year student

Stan McKenzie Endowed Writing Award Recipients:

• Emma Rodgers; West Henrietta, NY; Saunders College of Business, Business Exploration, first-year student
• Sadhvi Kumar; Mumbai, Maharashtra, India; Saunders College of Business, Finance, first-year student

Mary C. Sullivan Women’s and Gender Studies Writing Award Recipients:

• Julia Resciniti; Pittsburgh, PA; College of Liberal Arts, History, fourth-year student
• Natalie Martin; Newton, MA, NY; College of Art and Design, Medical Illustration, fourth-year student

Tina Lent Award for Outstanding Scholarship in Museum Studies Recipient:

• Alice Cauchi; Dingmans Ferry, PA; College of Liberal Arts, Museum Studies, and Golisano Computing and Information Sciences, Computer Science, fifth-year student

Robert Root Endowed Award Recipient: 

• Elle Parrotta; Rochester, NY; College of Liberal Arts, English and Philosophy, fourth-year student