“May is a month of tradition and celebration. As every academic year comes to a close, students, parents, and faculty have the joy of attending honors and awards ceremonies—and of course, commencement. This year, the month of May has required us to be creative in reimagining how the students at the heart of these traditions might be honored appropriately.

We hope that you enjoy these videos, created in a collaborative labor of love by School of Communication faculty, staff, and students. They highlight all of our 2020 award and honors recipients much as we would have in our traditional “in-person” award ceremony—minus the hugs, cake, and champagne. Big congratulations to all of our graduates, award winners, and honors recipients from the faculty and staff of the School of Communication!”

Jennifer H. Waldeck, Ph.D.
Professor & Acting Dean
School of Communication

Departmental Honors

Undergraduate students in the School of Communication graduating with a 3.7 or higher GPA in their major and a 3.5 or higher overall GPA, are recognized with departmental honors. This year we recognize 52 graduating seniors with departmental honors. Congratulations to our 2020 honors students!

Communication Studies Honors
Anna Avgeres, Kristen Beane, Sarah Brenkle, Melissa Cheng, Erin Crowder, Chloe de Vries, Maya Dhairyawan, Kailie Fagen, Ellee Forsythe, Madeline Guzaitis, Kelly Hesp, Cassidy Keola, Brooklyn O’Neill, Colleen Penaluna, Brooke Senit, Paige Stevens, Skylar Terrana, Lauren Thomason

Strategic and Corporate Communication Honors
Tristyn Acasio, Laura Alvarez, Kylie Bitler, Gracie Brand, Brooke Campbell, Brielle Cetraro, Kaleo Chang, Christie Chaplin, Amanda Clausen, Casey Corbin, Bryn Crowell, Kelsey Dalton, Grace Douglass, Kaelee Esposo, Abigail Francis, Kylee Hamel, Sarah Hertzberg, Brian Katz, Katherine Khaloo, Mindy Kim, Noel McGuire, Lauren McNiff, Robert Miller, Eliana O’Neill, Marvin Roca, Dominic Roskelly, Autumn Schorr, Ella Scott, Alexandra Searles, Anja Seng, Malia Studt, Marie Tobias, Jessica Tredota, Barrington Valdez, Haylie Yrojo

Dean’s Awards of Excellence

The Dean’s Awards of Excellence are a series of awards presented to one graduating senior from each major and one student from the Chapman Radio staff. The Dean’s Awards of Excellence for Communication Studies, Global Communication and World Languages, and Strategic and Corporate Communication go to the graduating senior with the highest GPA in each of the majors. The Dean’s Award of Excellence for Chapman Radio goes to the graduating senior selected by the Dean and the faculty advisor for Chapman Radio based on their performance and accomplishments in their role with the station.

Congratulations to Maddie Guzaitis – Communication Studies, Sarina Welsh – Global Communication and World Languages, Amanda Clausen – Strategic and Corporate Communication, and Ted Davis – Chapman Radio!

Lambda Pi Eta New Inductees

Lambda Pi Eta is the official communication honors society of the National Communication Association. Each year at our annual awards ceremony, we induct our new honors society members into the Chapman University Lambda Pi Eta chapter. Congratulations to all of our new members!

Tristyn Acasio, Lee-Anne Aranda, Nicole Bessen, Justine Bon, Alexandra Callaway, Tiffany Cheng, Emily Chisick, Casey Corbin, Luke Edwards, Alyssa Girimonte, Anastasia Gougas, Vanessa Gonzalez, Maddie Guzaitis, Natalie Hernandez-Barber, Rikke Holand, Miri Inoue, Alexandria Jensen, Lisa Matsui, Angela Poerschke, Karen Sieu, Allison Susman, Chia (Candy) Wang, Dylan Wen, Haley Younkin

STAR Awards

The STAR approach is an ethos the faculty adopted when the School of Communication was founded in 2016. The STAR approach stands for Service, Teaching, Achieving your personal best, and Respect. These principles guide all of our work and interactions. Last year, our faculty created the STAR award to recognize undergraduate students who exemplify these principles in their work and life in and outside of the School of Communication.

Congratulations to this year’s STAR Award recipients Sarah Downey, Matt Ghan, Alex Hallerman, Colleen Penaluna, Mollie Thomas, and Sarina Welsh!

Graduate Program Awards

This set of awards recognizes students in our graduate programs, the M.S. Health and Strategic Communication and Ph.D. in Communication. Created last year, these awards are named after three of our incredible and devoted graduate program faculty. These faculty are widely regarded as top scholars and faculty in the field of communication. The Jennifer Waldeck Award recognizes our most outstanding graduate teaching assistant in the program. The Michelle Miller-Day Award recognizes the graduate student with outstanding research productivity and quality. The Jennifer Bevan Award recognizes the overall outstanding student in the graduate program. Congratulations to our 2020 graduate student award recipients!

Jennifer Waldeck Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award
Tess Buckley

Michelle Miller-Day Outstanding Graduate Research
Kishi Rey

Jennifer Bevan Outstanding Graduate Student Award
Phil Bui

Outstanding Alumni Award

The Outstanding Alumni Award is a new award this year and recognizes an alumnus for their continued involvement with and support of the School of Communication. This alumnus shows great pride in their alma mater through their words and deeds and is a model for our students to emulate. They go above and beyond in their support of our students and their fellow alumni in their professional and personal development.

Congratulations to our first Outstanding Alumni Award recipient Allyson Wadman ’17!