Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Three Evansville graduates earn perfect academic record
 David Head and Travis Hill are two of 12 undergraduates in the Class of 2007 at the University of Southern Indiana to earn the honor summa cum laude at graduation. Evansville student Nicole S. Kuhlman also earned the prestigious honor of a perfect record. The USI Commencement ceremony will be held at 3 p.m. on Saturday, May 5 at Roberts Stadium. The Class of 2007 has 1,291 candidates eligible for degrees. Summa cum laude students graduate with a 4.0 grade point average. The honor students can be recognized in the Commencement Ceremony by the gold colored stoles and tassels they wear with the graduation gown. The three Evansville graduates will each receive Bachelor of Science degrees. David G. Head Head is a charge nurse in the Emergency Room at St. Mary’s Medical Center, and he enrolled at USI as a nontraditional student after being away from the college classroom for 13 years. He attended Purdue University after graduating from Reitz High School. He earned an associate degree from USI in 1997 and started the Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree program in 2006. Head found the classroom of the 21st century different. Classes for the associate degree were held in the traditional setting and he liked the interaction with the students. When he started work on the bachelor’s degree, he found courses offered online. He said, “The online classes are helpful for the nontraditional student who is faced with time constraints due to family responsibilities and a job. I found the group projects challenging. I learned the Blackboard software and we would communicate through e-mails, but I never meet other team members face to face. Traditional students grew up with the Internet and I learned how to work in it.” He applied and has been accepted to the Nurse Anesthesia degree program of Trover Health System and Murray State University, a 28-month program of didactic and clinical education. The program is competitive. He was one of 87 applicants to a program that accepts 12 students. He plans to start the program in August. His wife Elizabeth Head is a 2002 USI graduate who is originally from New Jersey. She is finishing the Nurse Anesthesia degree program at Murray State in August. David Head is the father of five children from ages 19 to 4. Head said, “When I enrolled at USI I decided to do the best I could and try to get an A in my classes. USI is convenient for me with reasonable fees. I’ve gotten a good education. It is a great place to earn a degree.” Head was named to Sigma Theta Tau, an international honor society of nursing and is a member of Golden Key Honor Society which recognizes academic excellence in all academic disciplines. Travis R. Hill Hill is the son of Brad and Amy Hill, and his father is Evansville’s chief of police. A graduate of Harrison High School, the young Hill credits his dad for inspiration. The graduate said, “Dad has taught me the importance of integrity. He tells me integrity will carry you through.” Through his high school and college career Hill’s interest has been accounting. An honor student at Harrison High School, he enrolled at USI the fall after high school. He said, “I took accounting in high school and liked it. Since the USI program is one of the top five accounting programs in Indiana, and the University is in my backyard, USI was my choice.” Hill served the accounting department in multiple ways. He was vice president of the Accounting Club; active in community service with Beta Alpha Psi, an honorary society that recognizes academic excellence in the financial information field; and was a member of Beta Gamma Sigma, a society that honors academic achievement in the study of business for universities accredited by AACSB International. He also was named to the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. The more challenging classes for Hill were Intermediate Accounting I and II. He said, “In addition to reading, homework, and tests like other classes, Dr. Wade had us work on a business model. It was a simulation of an audit for a company from its startup through seven years.” Hill is delighted with the summa cum laude honor. He said, “The 4.0 was on my mind after junior year. Earlier during my college career a B would not have bothered me. But I wanted to keep that perfect record my senior year. It made me stay focused on classes.” He’ll be going to Indianapolis in September as an auditor for Deloitte and Touche LLP, a firm that offers professional services in tax planning and consulting, international and multistate tax, corporate finance, estate planning, and more. He held the Pumphrey Scholarship, a departmental scholarship, a scholarship through the Fraternal Order of Police, and the Gaither Rutherford Scholarship. After gaining work experience, he plans to attend graduate school. Nicole S. Kuhlman Kuhlman has been accepted into the Indiana University School of Medicine, and she will enroll in the fall. A graduate of Evansville Memorial High School, Kuhlman is the daughter of Greg and Debbie Kuhlman. In addition to class work, she worked at St. Mary’s Medical Center and in the microbiology lab at USI. She was active in the Biology Club for three years. Of the science curriculum classes she took, she liked the smaller advanced biology classes with 15 students. She said classmates would study together and she found that enjoyable. Kuhlman said, “I don’t settle for less than the best, so my grades are important to me. I find it fun to meet a challenge. The striving for excellence keeps it interesting for me.” Other 2007 summa cum laude graduates are Melissa D. Andrews, Vincennes; Leslie M. Burch, Loogootee; Jessica L. Elpers, Haubstadt; Lauren C. Fultz, Seymour; Jenna N. Gingerich, Odon; Rachel Mann, Corydon; Annette Scott, Owensville; Jennifer L. Smith, Vincennes; and Elizabeth TenBrook, Cicero. |
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