Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Trustees Award goes to Priscilla Walker
 Priscilla Walker, a senior majoring in food and nutrition, is the recipient of the 2009 Trustees Distinguished Merit award, the highest honor presented to a University student during Honors Week.The recipient of a USI Baccalaureate/Doctor of Medicine award, Walker plans to pursue a career as a physician. She will enroll in the fall at Indiana University School of Medicine. Walker looks forward to using her knowledge of food and nutrition to benefit patients whose conditions can be helped or managed with a healthy diet. She participated in summer 2007 in a virology course taught by USI faculty in England and spent summer 2008 as an intern on a medical mission trip to Nairobi, Kenya, where she worked with HIV/AIDs patients. Walker documented her work in Kenya for a project in a humanities class. Emily L. Synowiec, humanities lecturer, said, “Her project showed her recognition of Kenyans’ necessity for medical treatment; her openness for experiencing foreign cultures; her compassion for humankind; her artistic talent in capturing her thoughts and feelings in writing; and most of all, her passion for a better future by helping people who lack hope.” Another faculty member described her as a “great student and an even greater person.” Walker is a resident assistant in USI housing and works part-time teaching youngsters about healthy eating through the Professor Popcorn program of the Vanderburgh County Extension Office. She is a member of the Food and Nutrition Student Organization and the USI chapter of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. She has earned a 3.8 grade-point average overall. She is a former student worker in the microbiology lab. She is from Indianapolis. The Trustees Distinguished Merit Award, which includes a $1,000 stipend, recognizes outstanding achievement not only in the student’s major but also in the liberal arts and sciences that form the core curriculum of a college education. Selection is made by the Student Affairs Committee. Betty Vawter News & Information Services bvawter@usi.edu |
Copyright © 2013 University of Southern Indiana. All rights reserved.