Student Achievements
Meet Our Outstanding 2011 Graduates
At the end of the year, each of the academic departments and interdisciplinary programs in the College of the Pacific honors a truly exceptional graduating senior or group of seniors with the Outstanding Graduate Award. This award is given to students who have not only earned a consistently high academic record, but who have also been actively involved in the discipline through activities, research, or special projects.
Outstanding Seniors: Brandie Spencer and Leora White
Senior of Distinction: Sarah Cassese
 |
| Brandie Spencer with Jesse Marks, a former long-time Student Life staff member who initiated the Jesse Marks Co-curricular Award. |
Sociology majors Brandie, Leora and Sarah are effective leaders, community builders and outstanding scholars. Their excellence and accomplishments have made ripples of positive impact on their peers in the classroom, on campus climate, and on Pacific's relationship with the local communities. They exemplify what diversity and inclusive excellence means at Pacific.
Brandie Spencer has worked tirelessly in his multiple leadership roles on campus and in the local communities while striving for academic excellence. He is the winner of the 2011 Pacific Jesse Marks Co-Curricular Award for Student Leadership, and the City of Stockton Martin Luther King Jr. Outstanding Youth Adult Award for Community Service. He was the founder of Empowering Young Voices, Incorporation, and workshop organizer of NAACP in Stockton. He has been on the Dean's Honor Roll and been President of Pacific's Knolens Chapter of Mortar Board Senior Honor Society. In addition, he was selected as Commencement Speaker for both the University and the College of the Pacific. He plans to pursue graduate studies in Educational Administration and hopes to bring about positive change for a more equitable society.
 |
| Leora White with Dr. Carrie Schroeder |
Leora White and Sarah Cassese are truly a dynamic duo. They have both been on the Dean's Honor Roll and are members of Phi Kappa Phi; Leora was also inducted into the prestigious Phi Beta Kappa honor society. Leora and Sarah have been Co-Presidents of the Pacific Sociological Society, which had only three members when they joined it during their junior year. As a result of their dynamic leadership, the society now has 30 members.
 |
| Sarah Cassese |
Working closely with the Ethnic Studies and Gender Studies Programs, the Multicultural Center, Pride Center, and Women's Center, they organized two campus-wide guest speaker events, which generated provocative discussions regarding social justice and equity. They both have been accepted into CSU Stanislaus' Master's Program of Social Work.
Students Attend NCORE 2011
Thanks to funding from the College of the Pacific Deans Office and the Ethnic Studies Program, students Tara Ignont and Kerry Robinson were able to attend the National Conference of Race and Ethnicity (NCORE) in San Francisco for the second year in a row. NCORE is "the leading and most comprehensive national forum on issues of race and ethnicity in American higher education." The conference includes approximately 200 different educational opportunities offered through workshops, feature presentations, networking sessions and keynotes.
Since attending NCORE 2010:
- Tara and Kerry co-presented a poster session at Pacific's Gender, Race and Space Conference.
- Tara participated as a student panelist at the 2010 University Diversity Retreat.
- Kerry was appointed as the student representative to the President's Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion.
- Tara and Kerry assisted in planning the Campus Conversation on Advancing Diversity and Inclusion (April 2011), a campus-wide forum for promoting issues of social justice.
Meet Our Outstanding 2010 Graduate
Mukhaye Nangalama earned a B.S. in Business Administration with minors in Pre-Law and Ethnic Studies. Mukhaye exemplified excellence by integrating multiple disciplinary studies and active citizenship. She played a leadership role in various student organizations, including the Black Students Union, the Phi Alpha Delta Pre-Law Fraternity and the Ethic Studies Club.
At graduation, Mukhaye had been accepted by Southern University Law School and was waiting for news from several other law schools. Pursuing a career in law is particularly meaningful to her, as she is the daughter of political refugees who fled Idi Amin's dictatorship in Uganda.