Dean’s Corner: April 2025

Dear Faculty, Staff, Alumni and Friends,

It’s already April, which means we are rapidly closing in on the end of the academic year. April is also awards month, when we can recognize and celebrate our most accomplished students, faculty and staff.

Earlier this month, CAH hosted its second-ever awards evening at the Madren Center to honor our highest-achieving students. It was a lovely evening with musical accompaniment provided by performing arts students Lydia Plante (violin) and Bryce Cahill (cello). Additionally, we enjoyed a video of piano competition winner, David Wang, and a live performance by voice student Kaleigh Stagich, winner of the 2025 Outstanding Student in Performing Arts-Music Award.

Student awardees and their families and guests sat down to a hearty meal and had a chance to talk with their respective department chairs and faculty. I was moved to find out how far some families had traveled to be on hand for the event.

Capping the student awards was the Blue Key Academic and Leadership Award, won by Claire McDonald. Claire is the rare double-major graduating with both a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and a Bachelor of Science in Environmental and Natural Resources. She also tackled double minors in Screenwriting and Forest Resource Management. She served as Assistant Editor of the South Carolina Review and as a Trip Manager and Trip Leader at the Clemson Outdoor Recreation Center. After graduation, she plans to attend law school and work in child advocacy.

Next up was the Phi Kappa Phi Certificate of Merit, which provides a certificate of merit for up to three majors from the College of Arts and Humanities. This year’s winner, Mason Gibbs, double majored in Religious Studies and History and minored in Philosophy all while earning a 4.0 GPA. He was invited to join Phi Beta Kappa — the nation’s oldest academic honor society — during his junior year. He also served as the Head Saber Coach of the University’s Club Fencing Team, leading the team to multiple individual and team medals.

Rounding out the evening, President of the College Student Ambassadors Tanasia English-Hunter, presented several awards. First was the Dre Martin Service Award, presented to Miah Bernard. In memory of Chardrevius “Dre” Martin, the College of Arts and Humanities presents an award each year to a student who embodies a spirit of service coupled with academic excellence. Miah Bernard is in the Language and International Health (LIH) program, has been a CAH Ambassador for 5 semesters, served as President of the LIH Society. Her semester abroad was in Ecuador, interning at a public hospital in an Indigenous community.

Tanasia then presented the Faculty Member of the Year award to D’Ondre Swails, assistant professor of History and Global Black Studies, and the Advisor of the Year award to Dorcas Perez from the Department of Languages. Both the Faculty and the Advisor awards are the result of student nominations and letters of support.

The awards ceremony was made possible by the hard work of many, led by Lee Ferrell, our BMW Principal Lecturer of German, who chaired the awards committee and announced the many departmental awards — too many to list here — that our students earned.

Congratulations to all our outstanding students to the faculty and staff who garnered their support.

Go Tigers!

Nicholas Vazsonyi, Dean

College of Arts and Humanities

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