{"id":31841,"date":"2024-05-03T14:24:24","date_gmt":"2024-05-03T18:24:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/?p=31841"},"modified":"2024-05-06T11:00:36","modified_gmt":"2024-05-06T15:00:36","slug":"students-and-faculty-honored-during-2024-commencement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/students-and-faculty-honored-during-2024-commencement\/","title":{"rendered":"Students and faculty honored during 2024 Commencement"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Student and faculty awards and honors were handed out at the May 4 commencement ceremony for the Class of 2024 by Furman University President Elizabeth Davis. She was assisted by Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Beth Pontari and Board of Trustees Chair Kevin T. Byrne \u201991.<\/p>\n<h3>General Excellence Awards<\/h3>\n<div id=\"attachment_31953\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-31953\" class=\"wp-image-31953 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/218\/2024\/05\/050424_Graduation-For-Web_09-768x608.jpg\" alt=\"An older white-haired white man, a young woman with long blonde hair and a woman with short blonde hair stand in graduation regalia for a photo. The young woman holds two wrapped packages.\" width=\"400\" height=\"317\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/218\/2024\/05\/050424_Graduation-For-Web_09-768x608.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/218\/2024\/05\/050424_Graduation-For-Web_09-150x119.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/218\/2024\/05\/050424_Graduation-For-Web_09-512x406.jpg 512w, https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/218\/2024\/05\/050424_Graduation-For-Web_09.jpg 1000w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 400px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 400\/317;\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-31953\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Caroline Brawley \u201924 stands with Kevin T. Byrne, chair of the Board of Trustees, and President Elizabeth Davis during Commencement in McAlister Auditorium on Saturday, May 4, 2024. Brawley received the Brashaw-Feaster Medal and a Scholarship Cup.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The Donaldson-Watkins and the Bradshaw-Feaster Medals for General Excellence are awarded each year by the faculty to outstanding senior graduates. The awards are based on scholarship, general culture, participation in college activities and high moral character.<\/p>\n<p>In 2024, the Donaldson-Watkins Medal was presented to Saluda Abigail (Abby) Stapleton of Harrisonburg, Virginia. The Bradshaw-Feaster Medal went to Caroline Graham Brawley of Newport, Tennessee.<\/p>\n<h3>Scholarship Cup<\/h3>\n<p>The Furman University Scholarship Cup is awarded to the undergraduate degree candidate or candidates with the highest grade-point average. Each of the winners achieved a perfect academic record.<\/p>\n<p>This year, Scholarship Cups were awarded to Brawley; Stapleton; Logan Manning Coffee, Easley, South Carolina; Gabrielle Lisette Fehler, Greenville, South Carolina; Christina Hunter Fleming, Windermere, Florida; and Joshua Richmond Hutson, Greer, South Carolina.<\/p>\n<h3>Meritorious Teaching and Advising<\/h3>\n<p>The Alester G. Furman Jr. and Janie Earle Furman Award for Meritorious Advising is given annually to a member or members of the faculty or staff judged to be exceptional academic advisors. The 2024 wards for meritorious advising were presented to Veronica Lee Flores, assistant professor of psychology, and Kevin Richmond Hutson, professor of mathematics.<\/p>\n<p>The Alester G. Furman Jr. and Janie Earle Furman Award for Meritorious Teaching is given annually to a member or members of the faculty in recognition of teaching excellence. The 2024 award for meritorious teaching was presented to Matthew Shepard Feigenbaum, professor of health sciences.<\/p>\n<p>The Chiles-Harrill Award is presented annually to a member of the faculty or staff chosen by the senior class as having the greatest influence on the class. Recipients of the award become honorary members of the class and sit with the class during the Commencement ceremony. The 2024 Chiles-Harrill Award was presented to Andy Coe, the associate director of the Internship Office in Furman\u2019s Center for Engaged Learn.<\/p>\n<h3>Retiring Faculty<\/h3>\n<p>Retiring faculty were also acknowledged at the ceremonies. This year\u2019s faculty retirees represent 200 years of cumulative service to the university. Faculty who retired after the 2023-2023 academic year were:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Laura Ellen Baker, associate librarian, who served 23 years on the faculty,<\/li>\n<li>William Mebane Baker, professor of physics, who served 30 years on the faculty,<\/li>\n<li>Carmen Sof\u00eda Kearns, professor of modern languages and literatures, who served 30 years on the faculty,<\/li>\n<li>Savita Nair, Gordon Poteat Professor of History and Asian Studies, who served 21 years on the faculty,<\/li>\n<li>Jay Edward Oney, professor of theatre arts, who served 28 years on the faculty,<\/li>\n<li>Marian Elizabeth Strobel, William Montgomery Burnett Professor of History, who served 43 years on the faculty, and<\/li>\n<li>Suzanne Burger Summers, James C. Self Professor of Business and Accounting, who served 25 years on the faculty.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4><a href=\"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/furman-graduates-nearly-500-in-two-ceremonies\/\">&lt;&lt; Commencement 2024<\/a><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>General Excellence Awards, The Scholarship Cup and Meritorious Teaching and Advising Awards were presented, and seven retiring faculty were acknowledged at Commencement 2024. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":389,"featured_media":31979,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2773],"tags":[858,2765,621,2774,751],"class_list":["post-31841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commencement","tag-commencement","tag-commencement-2024","tag-faculty-awards","tag-retiring-faculty","tag-student-awards"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/389"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31841"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31841\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}