Graduation 2017

Videos of Graduation Speeches

Watch videos of concluded events from this year’s Commencement Week.

Photos from Class Day, the Alumni Parade of Classes and Commencement

Academic Awards and Prizes Winners

View photos of the Academic Awards and Prizes ceremony as well as of the Phi Beta Kappa induction ceremony.

Dean James J. Valentini and Dean of Academic Planning and Administration Lisa Hollibaugh were on hand to congratulate the students at the 2017 Academic Awards and Prizes Ceremony, held on May 16 in Faculty House. Not all of the following awards were announced at the ceremony, but all were given.

Special Achievements To Be Noted

Presented by Dean of Academic Planning and Administration Lisa Hollibaugh

Harry J. Carman Fellowship

  • Michael Abolafia ’17

Class of 1939 Summer Research Fellowship

  • Spencer Cohen ’18
  • Hunter Koch ’18
  • Chang Moon ’18
  • Angela Vettikkal ’18
  • Wenyi Zhang ’18
  • Alexander Garnick ’19
  • Victor Gordillo ’19

Jarvis and Constance Doctorow Fellowship

  • Elana Sulakshana ’17

Henry Evans Travelling Fellowship

  • Michael Abolafia ’17
  • Nadine Fattaleh ’17
  • Elsa Hoover ’17

Albert Asher Green Memorial Prize

  • Dayalan Rajaratnam ’17

Euretta J. Kellett Fellowship

  • Paula Gaither ’17
  • Evan Garnick ’17

Richard Lewis Kohn Travelling Fellowship

  • Rostom Bouazizi ’19

David B. Truman Alumni Award

  • Xian Zhi (George) Liu ’17

Salutatorian

  • Hui Yu Wong ’17

Valedictorian

  • Michael Abolafia ’17

Prizes in the Core Curriculum and Prizes in the Creative and Performing Arts

Presented by Professor Julie Crawford, Department of English and Comparative Literature

Academy of American Poets Poetry Prize

  • Glynnis Louise McGavin Eldritch GS’18

Seymour Brick Memorial Prize

  • Antonia Georgieva ’18
  • Eliana Pipes ’18

Karen Osney Brownstein Writing Prize

  • Lucy Jakub ’17

George William Curtis Prize in Oration

  • Thomas Startz ’18 - Informative
  • Caravaggio Caniglia ’19 - Persuasive

Joshua A. Feigenbaum Prize in Literature Humanities

  • Kunal Jay Dixit ’19

Wallace A. Gray Prize in Literature Humanities

  • Karinya Ghiara ’19

Dean Hawkes Memorial Prize in the Humanities

  • Samantha Klitzman ’18

Jonathan Throne Kopit Prize in Logic and Rhetoric

  • Matthew Leadem ’20

Philolexian Prize Fund

  • Bindu Bansinath ’18

Philolexian Society George Washington Centennial Prize

  • Julien Saint Reiman ’18

Austin E. Quigley Prize

  • Joseph Edward Santia ’17

Richard and Brooke Kamin Rapaport Summer Music Performance Fellowship

  • Conner Duke ’18
  • Alec Hon ’18
  • Joseph Morag ’18
  • Thomas Nielsen ’18
  • Kelly Talim ’18
  • Elena Ariza ’20
  • Daniel Kim ’20

James P. Shenton Prize in Contemporary Civilization

  • Michael Ort ’17

Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts

  • Lauren Greenberg ’17

Mariana Griswold Van Rensselaer Prize

  • Marisa Liu BC’17

Richmond B. Williams Travelling Fellowship

  • Sarah Ying Bai ’18
  • Thomas Nielsen ’18

Prizes in Science and Mathematics

Presented by Professor Frits Paerels, Department of Astronomy

Richard Bersohn Prize

  • Oh Sang Kweon ’17

Computer Science Department Award

  • Yubo Han ’17
  • Weston Jackson ’17

The Herbert Deresiewicz Summer Research Fellowship

  • Janice Chung SEAS’19

Thomas J. Katz Prize

  • Giulio Salerno ’17

Alfred Moritz Michaelis Prize

  • Adriana Rotondo ’17

Russell C. Mills Award

  • Miranda Li ’17

Professor Vam Amringe Mathematical Prize

  • Noah Miller ’18 (junior)
  • Vu-Anh Phung ’19 (sophomore)
  • Quang Dao ’20 (first-year)

John Dash Van Buren Jr. Prize in Mathematics

  • Hardik Shah ’17
  • Srikar Varadaraj ’17

Bridges and Sturtevant Prize in Biological Sciences

  • Julia Davis-Porada ’17
  • Christina Firl ’17
  • Alexandra Schurer ’17

Prizes in the Social Sciences

Presented by Associate Professor Shamus Khan, Department of Sociology

Charles A. Beard Prize in Political Science

  • Alexandra O’Keefe ’17

Chanler Historical Prize

  • Sophie Wilkowske ’17

Taraknath Das Foundation Award

  • Nathan Levine ’17

Albert Marion Elsberg Prize

  • Philip Jeffrey ’17

Myra Kraft Prize for Exceptional Practical Experience in Human Rights Advocacy

  • Hannah Hollandbyrd ’18

Myra Kraft Prize for Superior Academic Achievement in the Study of Human Rights

  • Eliana Kanefield ’17

Lily Prize in History

  • Katarzyna Kaczowka ’17

Garrett Mattingly Prize

  • Asha Banerjee ’17

Sanford S. Parker Prize

  • Luis Sanchez ’17
  • Zoey Chopra ’18
  • Guillermo Carranza Jordan ’18
  • Shambhavi Tiwari ’18
  • Jessica Bai ’19
  • Sahil Rai ’19

Edwin Robbins Academic Research and Public Service Fellowship

  • Spencer Cohen ’18
  • Peter Kalicki ’18
  • Yasmeen Abdel Majeed ’18
  • Yowana Wamala ’18

Romine Prize Senior Seminar

  • Katherine Ruesterholz ’17

Romine Prize Senior Thesis

  • Jeffrey Gortmaker ’17

Phyllis Stevens Sharp Fellowship in American Politics

  • Elise Barber ’18
  • Marium Dar ’18
  • Danny Haidar ’18

Caroline Phelps Stokes Prize

  • Jacob Seidman ’17

Alan J. Willen Memorial Prize

  • Partha Sharma ’17

Prizes in the Humanities

Presented by Professor Ellie Hisama, Department of Music

Charles Paterno Barratt-Brown Memorial Prize

  • Emily Burns ’17
  • Emma Volk ’17

Bunner Prize

  • Benjamin Libman ’17

Deutscher Verein Prize in German

  • Samuel Sugerman ’17

Douglas Gardner Caverly Prize

  • Megan Felder ’17

Earle Prize in Classics

  • Nathan Katkin ’18

James Gutmann Prize in Philosophy

  • Evan Garnick ’17

John Vincent Hickey Prize

  • Gian de Falco ’17

Helen and Howard R. Marraro Prize

  • Maria Morales ’18

Benjamin F. Romaine Prize Fund

  • Nathan Katkin ’18

Senior Thesis Prize in Art History and Archeology

  • Benjamin Davidoff ’17

Ernest Stadler Prize for Excellence in the Study of Classical Antiquity

  • Nathan Levine ’17

Susan Huntington Vernon Prize

  • Akiko Uemura ’17