These 2019-20 Outstanding Students Awards recognize the academics and co-curricular excellence and achievements of our students. Congratulations to this year’s winners and nominees! Read more about the winners and nominees!
Overall Outstanding Students of the Year for Academic and Co-curricular Contributions
For more than a decade, Doug Cherry (Psychology) has been active in the psychology field as a case manager and behavior support assistant. He has reached a level of involvement in the field that is rare for an undergraduate student.
Cherry serves as HSU’s Student Council Representative for the regional psychology organization Western Psychological Association (WPA). He represents the University’s interests and advocates for students at the yearly council meeting. Currently, he is organizing a group of psychology students who would like to attend the WPA conference and is seeking club funding for students. He is involved in planning a pre-WPA poster session at HSU to help students practice for the conference in a safe environment. He is also a member of the national society in his emphasis, Society for Research on Adolescence.
A graduate assistant (GA) for the Psychology department, he is highly dependable, a skilled collaborator, and team player. He takes initiative and does what he can to help the team of teaching assistants and our students. Doug has demonstrated academic leadership in his extensive involvement as a GA and within various academic clubs and organizations. He has served as Secretary and Treasurer for Psi Chi and Psychology Club, Treasurer for the Vegan Club, and Historian for Scholars of Academic Research. Doug also works as a facilitator between the psychology clubs. He frequently organizes study sessions and working groups for his peers above and beyond his GA work. He seeks out collaborations that involve multiple students so they all benefit from his initiative and organizational skills.
Cherry is also active in the community through his volunteer work for the Boys and Girls Club as well as local school districts.
Ellen Colegrove (Child Development & Native American Studies) has spent four intensive years balancing academia with community services, as the Treasurer of the Indian Tribal & Educational Personnel Program (ITEPP), an intern for the Department of Child Development, a mentor for the American Indian education program, a planning committee member for Big Time, and a member of the resurfacing of the Native Forum committee.
Ellen was a major contributor to the publication of Ka’m-t’em: A Journey Toward Healing a book that included the testimonials of 27 local community members. She helped community members record themselves, transcribe their interviews, and translate them into written chapters. She was a mentor and leader of the year-long Ka’m-t’em Youth Photography Project, which was dedicated to teaching youth the process of transferring generational knowledge through an image. She and five local youth spent weekends interviewing community members about local history, conducting research , and capturing Indigenous knowledge through photography chapters. She was selected as the Ambassador of the Hoopa Valley Tribe. In this role, she held workshops and presentations in schools and agencies throughout the state on tribal history, cultural competence, and contemporary issues in child development. Furthermore, she was recognized for academic excellence as a Udall Scholar.
She is currently a counselor for Two Feathers Native American Family Services, working with at-risk children (ages 7-12) who have been referred to the program for suicide prevention. Each week, she engages in a meaningful activity with each of her six mentees. She takes her mentees to local events such as basket making classes, assists them with homework, plays basketball with them in their backyards, or takes them to a movie. In addition, Ellen has worked with the Yurok Tribal Head Start Program and 0 to 8 Mental Health Collaborative on observations and assessments; the Hoopa Tribal Education Association on summer youth program activities; the Tribal Assistance for Needy Families on family events; United Indian Health Services as a counselor and mentor for summer youth camps; and within the local schools as an educator of cultural competency.
Academic and Co-curricular Award Recipients
Excellence in Arts Humanities & Social Sciences
Blue Baldwin—Psychology and Communication
Excellence in Professional Studies
Britney Bjork—Child Development
Excellence in Natural Resources & Sciences
Rosebelle Ines—Environmental Science & Management
Outstanding Artistic Achievement in Visual & Performing Arts
Cara Peters—Journalism
Al Elpusan Award for Student Activism
Tony Wallin—Journalism
Outstanding Contribution to a Campus Club or Organization
Jennifer Garcia—Anthropology, Minor: Spanish
Excellence in Community Service
Meg Bezak—Liberal Studies/Elementary Education
Excellence in Club Sports
Martin Gordillo—Kinesiology
Outstanding Contribution to an Associated Students Program
Pao Valdovinos —Psychology
Excellence in Intercollegiate Athletics
Lex Thrower—Criminology & Justice Studies
Brian Lorensen Residence Life Staff Award
Bree Rueda—Political Science, with Communication minor
Dan Perez-Sornia—Biology with a Chemistry minor
Club Advisor of the Year
Dave Marshall—PC Gaming Club
Patricia O. McConkey Outstanding Graduate Student Awards
— Lukas Edward Coppen—Master of Science ~ Kinesiology
— Marcos Andrew Hernandez—Master of Arts ~ English: Composition Studies & Pedagogy
— Chih-Wei Hsu—Master of Science ~ Environmental Systems: Energy, Technology, & Policy
— Hallie Lepphaille—Master of Arts ~ English: Applied English Studies
— Courtney Rene Pack—Master of Arts ~ Psychology: School Psychology
— Kelly Catherine Pfieler—Master of Science ~ Biology
— Kevin Rodger Soland—Master of Science ~ Natural Resources: Forestry, Watershed, & Wildland Sciences
— Stephanie Sean Souter—Master of Arts ~ Psychology: Academic Research
Outstanding Student Research
Michael Academia, Undergraduate in Fisheries Biology
“Food Provisioning, Prey Composition, and Nesting Success of Ospreys in Northwestern California”
Faculty advisor: Jose Marin Jarrin, Professor in Fisheries Biology
Goh Butler, Undergraduate in Biochemistry
“Transgenic Zebrafish Labeling Chloride Transporters, Key Regulators of Brain Activity and Behavior”
Faculty advisor: Ethan Gahtan, Professor in Psychology and John Steele, Professor in Biological Sciences
Karin Chao-Bushoven, Graduate in School of Education
“Why People Donate? Motivation in Major Donors in Higher Education”
Faculty advisor: Eric Van Duzer, Chair, School of Education
Ciara Emery, Graduate in Environment and Community
“Bringing Climate Change Home to Meet Your Viewshed: Stakeholder Perceptions of Offshore Wind Energy in Humboldt County, California”
Faculty advisors: Laurie Richmond, Associate Professor, Environmental Science and Management, and John Meyer, Chair, Politics
Irene Gonzalez-Herrera, Graduate in Psychology
“Bully-Victimization, Depression, and School Connectedness in Early Adolescent Students”
Faculty advisor: William Reynolds, Professor Emeritus in Psychology
Sarah Holden, Undergraduate in Anthropology
“A Symbol of Hope: An Ethnographic Analysis of Religion and Disaster Following the Camp Fire”
Faculty advisor: Mary Scoggin, Professor in Anthropology
Haley Huffaker, Elizabeth Osuna, Undergraduates in Child Development
“An Autoethnographic Exploration of Resilience among Student Parents in College: Voices of Latina
Student Mothers”
Faculty advisor: Meenal Rana, Associate Professor in Child Development
Brandon Light, Undergraduate in Biological Sciences
“Loss of LGL 1 Affects Akt and Girdin in Murine Neural Progenitor Cells in a mTOR Dependent Manner”
Faculty advisor: Amy Sprowles, Chair, Biological Sciences
Erin Trent, Graduate in Biological Sciences
“Detection, Isolation, and Characterization of Rickettsia Species Phylotype G022 from Ixodes pacificus”
Faculty advisor: Jianmin Zhong, Professor in Biological Sciences
Carrie Tully, Graduate in Environment and Community, and Cody Henrikson, Undergraduate in Marine Biology
“Imagining an Indigenized Campus”
Faculty advisor: Cutcha Risling Baldy, Chair, Native American Studies