Nursing and Health Professions Announces Top Graduates of 2020
JONESBORO – The College of Nursing and Health Professions at Arkansas State University is announcing its most outstanding graduating students, according to Dr. Susan Hanrahan, dean of the college. Normally these awards would have been presented during Convocation of Scholars, but it was cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Anna Leigh Powell, a nursing major, is the 2020 Chancellor’s Scholar for having the highest GPA (4.0) in the college.
Powell and two additional students, Sydney Higgins and Taylor McGraw, received the 4.0 Graduate Award for having a perfect GPA. When there is a tie, the Chancellor's Scholar is the student with the most credit hours.
Outstanding students were selected by faculty in the individual degree programs to receive the awards for achievement, leadership and service to their respective departments and degree programs, both in the classroom and in the clinical experience. In addition to those listed here, numerous others were recognized for scholarly achievement in their respective academic programs.
Among those recognized and their degree programs are (grouped by academic department):
School of Nursing
Award winners in the School of Nursing are: Justin McAdoo, academic scholar, Doctor of Nursing Practice program; Elizabeth McQuay and David Smith, academic scholars, Angela Burgess and Sarah Dulaney, outstanding clinical students, Master of Science in Nursing (MSN), adult/gerontology CNS; Kelly Dowden, program academic scholar, and Courtney Deaton, outstanding clinical student, MSN, family nurse practitioner; Amber Chambers, outstanding clinical student, MSN, nurse anesthesia.
Anna Powell, program academic scholar, and Kathryn Howard, outstanding clinical student, Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN).
Maria Hailey, Jonesboro online, and Whitney Blair, Mountain Home, program academic scholars, AAS in nursing; Roger Herriott, LPN (face to face cohort), and April Huffman, LPN (online cohort), outstanding clinical student, Jonesboro; Madelyn Fisher, LPN, and Kristina Miller, traditional, outstanding clinical student, Beebe; Kristin Moody, traditional, outstanding clinical student, Mountain Home; Joseph Wilson, LPN, and Jerica Newsom, traditional, outstanding clinical students, West Memphis.
Dept. of Clinical Laboratory Sciences
Award winners in the Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences bachelor's degree program are Mason Lamb, clinical student of the year, and Barbara Herr, academic scholar. In the AAS program, Miranda Guiltner is clinical student of the year.
Dept. of Communication Disorders
In the Department of Communication Disorders, the top students and their respective degree programs are Stacey Mott, master's degree program, and Sydney Higgins, bachelor's degree program.
Dept. of Medical Imaging and Radiation Sciences
The students recognized in the Department of Medical Imaging and Radiation Sciences included Madison Petty, academic excellence, and Taylor Lassen, clinical excellence, diagnostic medical sonography; Ryan Barbry, academic excellence, and Grant Townsend, clinical excellence, radiation therapy; Katie Hall, academic excellence, and Hope Huffman and Kayla Lassen, clinical excellence, cardiovascular intervention; Chandler Starling, academic excellence, medical imaging informatics; Zach Sellers, academic excellence, and Morgan Burt, clinical excellence, magnetic resonance imaging; Kelsey Ball, academic excellence, and Rebekah Scott, clinical excellence, mammography.
Dept. of Physical Therapy
The Department of Physical Therapy recognized Clare Doss, academic scholar, and Madison James, outstanding student, in the Doctor of Physical Therapy program; Jeia Cowell, outstanding student, and Mikah Finnicum, academic scholar, physical therapist assistant program (Jonesboro campus), and Alyssa Jeffery, outstanding student, and Emily Perryman, academic scholar (Mountain Home campus).
Dept. of Occupational Therapy
The Department of Occupational Therapy recognized Emmanuelle Talib, occupational therapy doctorate (OTD), as outstanding student; Autumn Nelson, OTD, academic scholar; Markie Alberius, OTA, occupational therapy assistant, as outstanding student, and Benjamin Carr as academic scholar. Jonathan Miller and Autumn Nelson received the research award.
Dept. of Social Work
The top award winners in the Department of Social Work are Taylor Simone Coulter, outstanding field student, and Brenton Ezell, academic scholar, bachelor's program; Ian Tucker, outstanding field student, and Brooklyn Montgomery and Sarah Eberwein, academic scholar, master's program.
Disaster Preparedness Program
In the Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management program, award recipients included Justin Crosbie, Aaron Gray, Bryan Homer, Bryan Knatz and Nicole Velardi, master's degree, program academic scholar; Kathryn Williams, bachelor's, program academic scholar.
Health Studies Program
Clara Canter is the program academic scholar in the BS in health studies program.
Nutritional Science/Dietetics Program
Abigail McNatt, BS in dietetics, is the outstanding practicum student, and Braelen Hunt is the program academic scholar.
# # #
