Spring semester Outstanding Graduates commended before audience of family and faculty

It is a SUNY New Paltz tradition at the close of each semester to honor the efforts of distinguished graduates-to-be who have earned places atop their academic programs through excellent work in and out of the classroom.

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The spring 2016 Outstanding Graduate Ceremony, held on May 13, brought family, friends and faculty together to recognize the dedication of a select group of undergraduate and graduate students who made exemplary contributions to the College’s living and learning community during their time at New Paltz.

“Today, you’re being recognized by your faculty for success in the classroom, laboratory, performance hall, studio, athletics fields, the campus and local community and in study abroad programs all around the world,” said President Donald P. Christian. “You have helped your fellow students with their successes, and boosted the overall intellectual climate of the College. As Outstanding Graduates you embody the value we place on hard work and achievement. You will soon receive your degrees, but we think it is the well-rounded, high-quality education you’ve earned here that will have the most profound impact on your futures. Please accept my congratulations as you prepare to graduate and join previous New Paltz Outstanding Graduates by going on to great successes in graduate school and the workplace.”

Students representing all five of New Paltz’s schools – the School of Business, School of Education, School of Fine and Performing Arts, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the School of Science and Engineering – as well as the Honors Program, were named Outstanding Graduates this semester.

They were selected by a faculty nomination process that alludes to the instrumental role New Paltz instructors play in accommodating students’ intellectual ambitions and helping channel their ardent creativity.

“Our excellent and dedicated faculty have mentored and coached our honorees,” said Interim Provost Stella Deen. “They have shared their enthusiasm for learning, collaborated with you on research projects and cheered on your participation in co-curricular activities. Your professors, many of whom are here today, have inspired you, and I know that you in turn have inspired them with your creativity, your energy and your fresh insights into both enduring and contemporary problems and issues.”