BA News 2017-18

Students

Seniors who graduated summa cum laude: Kaylee Anderson, Abbey Benning, Marisa Erickson, Claire Fallon, Erin Jones, Danylo Loutchko, Benjamin Schroeder, Amy Verrando, and Arianna Wegley.

Seniors who graduated magna cum laude: Charlie Bartlett, Ellie McCabe, Rhianna Torgerud.

Seniors who graduated cum laude: Annalise Gall, Taylor Sharp.

Sarah Anderson received a 2018-19 Captain Dewitt Jennings Payne Memorial Scholarship.

Gavin Arnold received an Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) Award.

Edwin Banks received a 2018-19 Beverly Atkinson Scholarship for Outstanding Non-Traditional English Majors.

Elizabeth Baxter received a 2017-18 Edith and Archibald Leyasmeyer Internship Grant.

Jane Bollweg received a 2017-18 Edith and Archibald Leyasmeyer Internship Grant.

Josh Bruyning received a 2018-19 Sharon Borine Scholarship.

Sarah Charbonneau received a 2018-19 Donald V. Hawkins Scholarship.

Ariana Coon received a 2017-18 Edith and Archibald Leyasmeyer Internship Grant.

Mike Corrao received third in the undergraduate ArtWords contest.

Laurel Darling received a 2018 CLA Internship Scholarship.

Sara Donlin was awarded a Critical Language Scholarship to study Korean. She also received a 2018-19 Donald V. Hawkins Scholarship.

Claire Fallon was a co-winner of the Mark David Clawson Award for outstanding summa cum laude thesis.

Megan Filzen received a 2018-19 Donald V. Hawkins Scholarship.

Jesseca Fusco received a 2018-19 Captain Dewitt Jennings Payne Memorial Scholarship.

Gabriella Granada was awarded a 2018-19 Talle Family Scholarship, as well as the 2018 Donald R. Zander Alumni Award for Outstanding Student Leadership and the President’s Student Leadership and Service Award. Read our interview.

Palmer Haasch received a 2018-19 Donald V. Hawkins Scholarship.

Gwindalyn Harrison received a 2018-19 Captain Dewitt Jennings Payne Memorial Scholarship.

Jessica Hassan was awarded a CLA Dr. Nancy “Rusty” Barceló Scholarship.

Emma Heckel received a 2017-18 Edith and Archibald Leyasmeyer Internship Grant and a 2018-19 Donald V. Hawkins Scholarship.

Hannah Jacobson received a 2018-19 Anna Augusta Von Helmholtz Phelan Scholarship.

Joanna Jensen was co-Editor-in-Chief of the undergraduate literary journal The Tower.

John Kenney received a 2018-19 Jessie M. Comstock Scholarship.

Ellery Knight received a 2018-19 Captain Dewitt Jennings Payne Memorial Scholarship.

Hannah Kroeger received a 2017-18 Edith and Archibald Leyasmeyer Internship Grant.

Danylo Loutchko received an Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) Award. Read our interview.

Ryan Malloy received a 2018-19 Joan C. Forester Scholarship.

Jordan Mulder received a 2018-19 Sharon Borine Scholarship.

Samantha Olson received a 2018-19 CLA Birkelo Scholarship and a 2018-19 Robert Etheridge Moore Scholarship.

Liv Riggins received a 2017-18 Edith and Archibald Leyasmeyer Internship Grant.

Anna Rosin received a 2018-19 Donald V. Hawkins Scholarship.

Elizabeth Schleisman received a 2018-19 CLA Birkelo Scholarship and a 2018-19 Donald V. Hawkins Scholarship.

Benjamin Schroeder was a co-winner of the Mark David Clawson Award for outstanding summa cum laude thesis. He won the undergraduate ArtWords contest. He received an Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) Award and a 2017-18 Paul & Lucienne Taylor Internship Grant.

Ian Smith received a 2018-19 Joan C. Forester Scholarship.

Dzsenifer Szabo received a 2018-19 Captain Dewitt Jennings Payne Memorial Scholarship.

Molly Tynjala received a 2018-19 Robert Etheridge Moore Scholarship.

Amy Verrando was a co-winner of the Mark David Clawson Award for outstanding summa cum laude thesis. She received a Fulbright Program English Teaching Assistantship for 2018-19, in Malaysia.

Quynh-Huong Van received a Fulbright Program English Teaching Assistantship for 2018-19, in India.

Marah Walker received a 2017-18 Paul & Lucienne Taylor Internship Grant; she was co-Editor-in-Chief of the undergraduate literary magazine The Tower. Read our interview.

Alumni

Stacey Amo (BA 2008) received her PhD in English Literature with a graduate minor in Women’s and Gender Studies from Louisiana State University in 2017. She joined the Department of World Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at the University of Wisconsin-Superior as a Senior Lecturer in August 2017.

M. E. Bakos (BA 1985) published Fatal Flip: A Home Renovator Mystery with Cozycat Press.

Colette Lunday Brautigam (BA) published the essay "The Challenge Is Respect" in the AWP Writers Notebook.

John Jodzio (BA 1999) published the fiction chapbook This Is the Only Orientation You're Gonna Get with QuarterlyWest. It was the winner of Quarterly West's 2017 Chapbook Contest.

Sam Kean (BA 2002) published Caesar’s Last Breath: Decoding the Secrets of the Air Around Us with Little Brown and Company.

Cassandra King (BA 2014) was invited to be a member of the University Libraries Friends of the Libraries Board of Directors. She is Senior Editorial Associate, Education and News Publications, with the American Academy of Neurology.

Rachel Koller (BA 2008) sold her first television show, Betches, to Comedy Central. The animated TV series is based on the humor website and popular Instagram account, with actress Emma Roberts set to voice one of the characters. Koller is scriptwriter and executive producer for the series. She writes: "I got my English degree at the University of Minnesota and feel very fortunate to have had such a wonderful education that helped me get where I am today."

Patrick Nathan (BA 2007) published the novel Some Hell with Graywolf Press.

Sheila O'Connor (BA 1982) published the children's novel Until Tomorrow, Mr. Marsworth with Putnam.

Michael Tisserand (BA) won the Eisner Award for Best Comics-Related Book for his biography Krazy: George Herriman, a Life in Black and White. Read our interview. 

Beth Uding (BA 2007, double major in German) moved to New York after graduation and spent eight years managing a German-American exchange program for young professionals. In 2015, she moved to Singapore to work in the Centre for International & Professional Experience at Yale-NUS College, the first liberal arts college in Singapore, where she has focused on study abroad advising. She has recently moved to a new position overseeing experiential learning programs. Uding writes: "It has been a fascinating experience, working in higher education and exploring Southeast Asia. I find myself in the most diverse, international community I have ever been part of. I got this job in Singapore through a connection from UMN. Working in higher ed brings back so many good memories from my days in CLA, and I’m so grateful for the outstanding advisors and faculty I had at UMN."

Got an update for us? Email your news to sutt0063@umn.edu