Syracuse University to honor 35 accomplished seniors as the 2004-05 Remembrance Scholars

Syracuse University to honor 35 accomplished seniors as the 2004-05 Remembrance ScholarsOctober 19, 2004Kelly Homan Rodoskikahoman@syr.edu

The 2004-05 Convocation for Remembrance Scholars, honoring 35 outstanding Syracuse University scholars from this year’s senior class, will be held Friday, Oct. 22 at 3:30 p.m. in Hendricks Chapel. The convocation honors the scholars and the victims of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.

The Remembrance Scholarships, among the most prestigious awarded by the University, were founded as a tribute to, and means of remembrance for, the 270 people, including 35 SU students, who were killed in the Dec. 21, 1988, bombing while returning to the United States from a semester of study abroad.

The scholarships are funded through an endowment supported by gifts from alumni, friends, parents and corporations. Significant support for the Remembrance Scholarships has been provided by C. Jean Thompson ’66 and SU Trustee Richard Thompson G’67 in memory of Jean Taylor Phelan Terry ’43 and John F. Phelan, Jean Thompson’s parents; and by the Fred L. Emerson Foundation.

Applicants for the $5,000 Remembrance Scholarships were asked to highlight their academic achievements and University activities, including community service. They also wrote essays and participated in interviews with members of the selection committee.

“The United States has forcefully responded to terrorism with military activity in Afghanistan and Iraq, and with a new Department of Homeland Security. Just as important, however, is the work these 35 young scholars and activists will undertake in the fields of education, health care, communications and government service,” says David M. Rubin, dean of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and chair of the Remembrance Scholars Selection Committee. “We are in a war that cannot be won militarily. It can only be won with ideas. And it is to young people like these 35 that we look for the ideas that will bring peace to this troubled world.”

Each year, two students from Lockerbie are selected as Lockerbie Scholars. They spend one year studying at SU before returning to the United Kingdom to complete their university degrees. The 2004-05 Lockerbie Scholars, Beth Marchant and Laura Smith, will be recognized at the convocation.

Dean Rubin will preside over the convocation and Chancellor Nancy Cantor and Sue Westcott Alessandri, assistant professor of advertising and public relations at the Newhouse School, will deliver messages. A Remembrance Scholar will speak on behalf of the group, and Rubin will present the scholars.

The Remembrance Scholars (listed with their hometowns and majors) are Oluwatosin O. Akande of Baltimore, Md., policy studies and political science; Jaime L. Benson of Susquehanna, Pa., psychology and sociology; LaVasia S. Bullard of Albany, policy studies; Jessica Michelle Cohen of Manalapan, N.J., political science and broadcast journalism; Jessie Cordova of Brooklyn, history; Sara G. Daucsavage of Bend, Ore., magazine and Italian; Jacob Kent Eastham of Glenmoore, Pa., graphic design and policy studies.

Other recipients are Melissa Frei of Baldwinsville, physics; Kelly Gallagher of Abington, Pa., sociology; Alana G. Greenfogel of Randolph, N.J., broadcast journalism and political science; Rebecca Anne Hasskamp of Colorado Springs, Colo., advertising and marketing management; Katherine Mercedes Hogan of Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., architecture; Kimberly A. Jaindl of Quakertown, Pa., public relations and psychology; Lara Jeremko of Apalachin, N.Y., accounting and finance.

Also, Catherine A. Lapp of Appleton, N.Y., communication and rhetorical studies and history; Jennifer Long of Midlothian, Va., political science and international relations; Casey Lynn of Bel Air, Md., graphic design; Michelle L. Marsh of North Woodmere, N.Y., broadcast journalism; Jewel S. McGowan of Brooklyn, political science and policy studies; Clarion C. Mendes of Somerset, Mass., linguistic studies and psychology; Emily Jane Moeller of Clinton, N.Y., music industry.

Other recipients are Linda Ober of Aberdeen, N.J., magazine and Spanish; Andrew J. Parsons of Olyphant, Pa., Spanish and international relations; Richard L. Pepe of Webster, N.Y., aerospace engineering; Elie Rabinowitz of Lexington, Mass., psychology and Spanish; Brian Rebuck of Allentown, Pa., architecture; Michelle K. Safo of Gaithersburg, Md., broadcast journalism and sociology; Emily A. Santilli of Amherst, N.Y., architecture.

Also, Melissa Beth Shakun of Bloomfield, Conn., art education; Kimberly Simpson of Geneva, Ohio, child and family studies and policy studies; Lindsay Skorupa of Newark, Del., English and textual studies and anthropology; Jocelyn Smith of Medina, N.Y., public relations and international relations; Megan Louise Vincent of Kirkland, Wash., illustration photography and history; Kenneth A. White of Pownal, Maine, film and video; and Lillian Mary Wilson of Royal Oak, Mich., art history and magazine.