 so many people here in gather together in Christchapel and we also welcome all those who are watching virtually this morning. In academic institution this is one of the most important weekends of the year. It is a time when we highlight the academic accomplishments and leadership of our students. For most of the year the incredible teaching and scholarship that happens in our classrooms does not have a public expression. During the year our students are also leading and serving in incredible ways that benefit our campus and the broader community. Today we are lifting up this work and honoring our most outstanding students. Faculty I thank you for your work this year in educating and inspiring our students because we know that their accomplishments are linked to the guidance that you provide. Your passion and commitment to teaching are the foundation of this college especially in the last two years. Your creativity in finding ways to deliver a Gustavus education and support our students has been incredible. Thank you to the families of our students for the support and guidance and encouragement that you have provided for your Gusty. We know that today is one of those days that you are busting with pride for their accomplishments and I'm so glad you are here. And students congratulations on your work and achievements. I commend you for the ways you have persevered and appreciate what you have contributed to this campus and all you have done to keep the Gustavus community strong. Thank you for committing yourselves to excellence. As we begin this ceremony we also acknowledge that Gustavus Adolphus College is located on the homelands of the Dakota people whose spiritual traditions include the belief that this land along with the creatures and people living on it are their relatives. Chaplain Ciri Erickson is ill this morning and unable to be with us. She sends her apologies and her greetings to everyone and I am the stand-in. I ask you to gather your hearts and minds for an invocation. Today as we gather to honor the achievements talents and perseverance of our Gustavus students we give thanks for the opportunities that we each have to think with free minds to explore the depths of our curiosity to ask our biggest and boldest questions about life and its meaning and to give of ourselves for the betterment of the community. Today as we raise our hands in applause to celebrate all that our students have accomplished we give great thanks for the daily blessings of breath bodies and bread which sustain our lives and make our work and learning possible. Today as we honor faculty who have dedicated their lives to the crafts of teaching research and mentoring we give thanks for the abundant knowledge present in this community and for the collective advances in wisdom and understanding. May this day be filled with rejoicing, wonder and gratitude. Amen. It is now my great pleasure to introduce a dear friend Professor Phil Bryant who will provide this morning's address. Professor Bryant teaches in the English department and he is the recipient of the 2021 Edgar M. Carlson Award for distinguished teaching and Gustavus faculty's highest accolade for teaching excellence. A Gustavus graduate and member of the Gustavus faculty since 1989. His courses cover such topics as the blues, reading and writing jazz, race and the American vision, pan-African poetry, appreciating and writing poetry, and African-American literature. He has based his teaching around student-centered discussions that foster genuine learning and connections. Professor Bryant also uses his position to mentor many BIPOC faculty and students often with a unique blend of wisdom and laughter. He said, quote, I had teachers that when they saw me, they said, you belong here. That's what I try to follow and mimic to get students to recognize what some people 50 years ago recognized in me. Dr. Bryant is an accomplished and admired poet who has published four books of poetry, most recently one entitled The Promised Land. He has served on the governing board of the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis and twice has been a fellow of the Minnesota State Arts Board. Please join me now in welcoming Professor Phil Bryant. President Bergman, I want to give this talk in memory of my teacher and poetry sensei, John Calvin Rasmursky. Some of you guys will know who John was and how much he meant to me and I think to writing and poetry in this institution. I'll begin this morning by explaining what the title of this talk from a house to a house refers to. More than 40 years ago when my wife Renee and I were living in Chicago, she and my uncle Charles were having one of their lengthy and involved discussions about my family's history. A few of you in the audience may be old enough to know that how fraught and potentially problematic family history could be for African Americans living in Chicago at that time, most of whom came north from a deeply racist Jim Crow south in wave after wave of what would later be called the great migration. My family was no exception. I got the strong sense early on that it was definitely an off limits and taboo subject that you shouldn't bring up in polite company for you surely be met with short, terse and highly redacted responses aimed at closing down the conversation before it even got started. Family history or black history was what my cousin Della always called that Ole mess. This particular conversation was about the original family building owned by my grandparents going back to the depression years which was located in an area of the south side that was a part of the first in historic black neighborhood called Bronzeville. In the late 1940s my grandparents were forced to sell that building to the city which invoked the right of imminent domain to build what would later become an upscale prairie shores and lake metals high rise apartment complex. My grandparents parlayed that money into a three flat apartment building located further south in a Swedish and German neighborhood that had been designated by the insurance and real estate agencies to become an African-American neighborhood almost overnight by a combination of racial redlining lock busting tactics in order to panic white residents who live there so they would sell their houses to the real estate agencies far below market value price. The real estate agencies would then turn around and sell them to blacks my grandparents included at a much higher and inflated price well above the real market value of the properties in that area. Thus the family three flat my grandparents perches became the house where my sisters and I grew up. After recounting this rather sad strife filled history my uncle felt that he had to add a silver lining to it by proudly proclaiming that despite the depression redlining Jim Crow racist insurance and real estate agency he assured Renee that our family still came from a house to a house. Growing up our house was filled with thousands of jazz records and hundreds upon hundreds of books. These books included the works of Jane Austen, William Shakespeare, Herman Melville, Daniel Defoe, Jonathan Swift, Voltaire, Lauren Stern, Henry Fielding, Emily and Charlotte Bronte, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Charles Darwin, William Faulkner, Rachel Carson, Norman Mailer, Charles Baudelaire, St. Augustine, Carl Marks, Plato, Aristotle, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Edgar Allan Poe, Walt Whitman, George Orwell and John Steinbeck and my parents most beloved, Ernest Hemingway and equally beloved, James Baldwin. My mother would read passages from Moby Dick, Animal Farm, Shakespeare's Anthony and Cleopatra and her all-time favorite, Macbeth. The first poem I ever remember hearing was her reading Alfred Tennyson's Charge of the Light Brigade. She jumped up on our sofa, raised her arm as if clutching a battle-saber and jumped up and down on the sofa as if she were riding a charging steed, shouting at the top of her lungs, onward, onward, into the valley of death, rode the 600. Neatly to say my sister, Sean, and I were quite imprinted and impressed by her stirring dramatic recitation and her telling commentary at the end of the poem where she spoke so eloquently about the utter waste and futility of war. I can look back now and say that in my house I got an urban black American version of an elite liberal arts education. I didn't know what the term liberal arts even meant until I was accepted to Gustavus in the late 1960s. I think my mother had to explain the notion to me before I boarded the plane to Minnesota, but I do remember the thought passing through my mind that what she was just trying to describe sounded an awful lot like our book and record stuff third-floor apartment on the south side of Chicago. W. E. B. Du Bois wrote in his essay of the wings of Atlanta in the souls of black folk about the importance of a liberal arts education in the essential role of the university. He said the function of the university is not simply to teach bread-winning or to furnish teachers for public schools or to be the center of polite society. It is above all to be an organ of that fine adjustment between real life and the growing knowledge of life, an adjustment which forms the secret of civilization. Du Bois wasn't just making the argument to include the liberal arts as a main component of black education alongside vocational and agricultural training for the advancement of African Americans then, but as a key part of a deeper intellectual and spiritual reimagining of higher education where institutions like Oxford, Yale or Columbia could play a seminal role in helping students both black and white. Two, in Du Bois' words, the broadest possibilities of life to seek the better and the best, to spread within their own hands the gospel of sacrifice. All this is the burden of their talk and dream here amid a wide desert of caste and prescription amid the heart hurting slights and jars of vagaries of a deep race dislike lies this green oasis where hot anger cools and bitterness of disappointment is sweetened by the springs and breezes of Parnassus and here men and women may lie and listen and hear of a future fuller than the past and hear the voice of time. So could there be a green oasis that's part of the hidden soul of Gustavus? Could Du Bois have ever imagined to include over a hundred years ago when he wrote the soles of black folk a small Swedish Lutheran college with a hard to pronounce name stuck out somewhere in the soybean fields and cornfields of south central Minnesota in the same breath he mentions Atlanta Fisk, Wilberforth, Howard, and Lincoln universities. Do the souls of these HBCU's that's historically black colleges and universities differ all that much in aim purpose and mission from our own? Do their spiritual strivings as Du Bois once described differ in any different degree from our own spiritual strivings here today as if and as if our souls indeed are made the same in the likeness of God then why do they seem to remain so stubbornly hidden and separate from each other? My parents tried to provide for my sisters and I a house filled with great books long before they were called great books. I do know now that these books belong to us urban working class black folk from the south side of Chicago as much as they belong to anyone else. They were the very foundation of our house. It was the house of Shakespeare Austin Bach Beethoven and it was the house of Duke Ellington, Billy Holiday, Ralph Ellison and James Baldwin and our house civilization was not gerrymandered or redlined for our minds and spirits. My parents firmly believed could then easily roam without border walls, Jim Crow signs or artificial boundary lines completely free. I've tried to bring as much of that spirit of liberal arts learning from my old house still standing by the way on the south side of Chicago to this house still standing up on a windswept hill on Dakota land overlooking St. Peter. Both houses are and have been as the boys wrote the organs of that fine adjustment between real life and the growing knowledge of life which forms the secret of civilization and our shared and common humanity. Knowledge and truth not only protects our lives but our very souls and spirits as well. I think this idea of a house of learning as an oasis and sanctuary from the outside storms constantly raging has been the center of my teaching at Gustavus. I think about the house I came from and this house we find ourselves in this morning and hope this present day house Gustavus Adolphus College is a house where the boys once wrote and this is a very famous quote of his. I sit with Shakespeare and he wences not. Across the color line I move arm and arm with Balzac and Dumas. We're smiling men and welcoming women glide in gilded halls from out of caves of evening that swing between the strong limbs earth and the tracery of stars I summon Aristotle and Aurelius and what soul I will and they come all graciously with no scorn a condescension so wed with truth I dwell above the veil. Is this the life that you grudge us old nightly America? Is this the life you long to change into the dull rat hideousness of Georgia? Are you so afraid least peering from this high Piska between Philistine and Amalakite? We sight the promised land so this morning can we like the boys also imagine and believe that just maybe one day we'll all dwell above the veil and see the promised land and from high atop this hill our green oasis we too can proudly say we came from a house to a house. Thank you all for your kind attention and consideration. Students on behalf of the faculty I thank you for your commitment to your academic pursuits and your involvement in campus life. Congratulations on all of your accomplishments. We know that for many students the support that they receive from their family and friends is critical to their success. I would also like to take this moment to extend a special welcome to parents family members and friends those who are here and those who are watching virtually. We know that some students become so focused on their life at Gustavus that they do not offer gratitude to family and friends who support their academic career. Yeah that's funny isn't it? So we've started a tradition of appreciation at this ceremony. Students I now invite you to take this moment to extend your own words of thanks to your family and friends for the ways that they support you as a student at Gustavus. If you do not have anyone with you take out your phone and text somebody please. And now you can put your phones away. Descriptions of the particular awards honor societies and other recognitions are printed in your program and I invite you to refer to it as we recognize the students. We start by recognizing students who have received academic recognition from national or state organizations. The following students were nominated for or were awarded nationally competitive scholarships. On average only about five to ten percent of students nationwide earn such recognition. In order to be competitive for a national award students spend many hours revising drafts reflecting on their experiences and goals and discussing their plans with faculty members and other professionals. Special thanks goes out to Pamela Kittelsen professor of biology and fellowships coordinator who has guided these national nominees and award-winning students through the application interview and selection processes for these awards. Dr. Kittelsen will present them certificates today. Students please come forward when your award is called. Audience I invite your applause after each student group. The awards descriptions start on page five and six of your program. If you do not have a printed program you may find it online at the honors weekend website. We start with the Fulbright scholarships. Please hold your applause until all students in this group have been introduced. Students please come forward and remain up front until all of the awardees in your group have been recognized. Eight Gusties applied for the Fulbright English teaching assistantship and four earned semi-finalist status. Of those Christopher Ortiz was selected to teach English in Madrid Spain. In addition Chris intends to start a Latin American music club where community members will learn English by sharing music and lyrics and plans to volunteer for organizations that help refugees immigrating to Spain. On campus Chris has been a co-president of the organization of Latinx students and a member of the Diversity Leadership Council and the Voter Engagement Team. Academically Chris combined his interests in Model UN and civic engagement with his political science major. Last year Chris was awarded a public policy international affairs scholarship which will help him pursue a master's degree in international affairs after he returns from Spain. Secondary education major Sydney Stummeberg is an alternate to the English teaching assistantship in Norway. Sydney has just finished student teaching and looks forward to teaching social studies to widely middle or high schoolers. At Gustavus Sydney has been active in curriculum development for the Nobel conference and as a writer and graphic designer for the quarterly publication. Sydney will do research this summer with Professor Lisa Ortman in the education department and aims to work on educational policies that support U.S. teachers and classrooms. Samantha Ragu is a semifinalist to the Czech Republic. Sam cannot be with us today because she actually graduated last year in sociology and anthropology but I still would like to share a little bit about her. She is currently working as a financial advisor and is the educational coordinator for the Friends of the Bounty Waters Wilderness. Sam intends to teach secondary school and shape policies to enhance access for underrepresented students and our last student in this student group is English and biology major Emily Van Gorder. She was also a semifinalist for the Czech Republic. Emily has served as the editor in chief for the weekly student newspaper and has been a gusty greeter and peer teaching and mentoring advisor for first year students. This summer Emily plans to return home to Colorado, work as a writer and apply for graduate school in forensic anthropology. I invite all of you to recognize these outstanding students. Thank you students. You may be seated. We have three gusty nominees and one awardee for the prestigious Berry M Goldwater Scholarship. Haley Yostas could not be with us today. Haley is a chemistry and biochemistry and molecular biology major who earned a Goldwater Scholarship for excellence in research, specifically due to her interests in water chemistry. Since her first year at Gustavus, Haley has worked on several research projects with doctors Jeff Jeremiah and Dwight Stoll. Last year Haley won a DAAD Rise Award to conduct research in Germany, where she synthesized clay nanocomposites and analyzed how they can be used to improve water quality. Haley also volunteers as a water quality monitor and mentors emerging scientists via gusty women in stem and the Twin Cities Regional Science Fair. We have three individuals who were nominees for this award. Chemistry major Trevor Kempen has worked in Dwight Stoll's analytical chemistry lab since his first year. As a process chemist, Trevor hopes to optimize pharmaceutical processes so that they result in less waste, which has the potential to lower costs. Trevor helped to develop Wikicrome, a large public database with the purpose of sharing method development. This summer Trevor will continue to work in the Stoll lab, developing approaches for rapid acquisition and analysis of HPLC data. At Gustavus, Trevor is active in music, tennis, and running. Biochemistry and molecular biology and math major Sophia Nelson modeled how fluid viscosity affected swimming behavior in microorganisms as part of an NSF research experience at the University of California, Davis. Sophia has presented this research at National Symposia and is preparing a manuscript for publication with her mentor. Sophia has been active in music, gymnastics, and as a math tutor. Next fall she will study abroad in Australia. Sophia intends to pursue a PhD in applied mathematics with a focus on using dynamical systems to model biological processes. And our last student in this group is Jessica Schwartz. Jessica also could not attend today. Jessica is a biochemistry and molecular biology and chemistry major and has worked in Dr. Amanda Nenow's lab, developing methods to analyze photodegradation products of the herbicide dicamba on plant surfaces. Jessica also works at the University of Wisconsin in Gusti alum, class of 2005, and one of my mentees, Dr. Emma Jordan Moore's lab, using an ultrasound approach to study the Zika virus. This summer Jessica will investigate antibody responses to Zika. At Gustavus, Jessica has been active in the chemistry club as a writing center tutor and as a jazz music musician. She also helps to sponsor activities for the Wisconsin Science Olympiad. Jessica intends to unite her love of research and medicine by pursuing an MD PhD. Please join me in celebrating our Barry M. Goldwater scholarship honors. Next I invite forward the students we recognized for the Truman Scholarship and the Critical Language Awards. You may all make your way forward now. First the nominee of the Truman Scholarship. Math and computer science major Abigail Doren works to enhance access to education. Abby volunteers for Math Motivators, a program that helps underrepresented high school students gain confidence with math and she has been a mentor in the Academy of Faith, Science, and Ethics summer camp. On campus Abby lives in the Steminist House and she is the technology chair for the Student Senate. This summer she will return to a position as a software engineering intern at Cannon Medical. Abby hopes to unite her interest in ethics and technology in a career that crafts ethical and equitable policies in technology. We have two critical language awardees. The first CLA winner is nursing major Dalton Dolly who took his first Arabic class at Rochester Community and Technical College and was hooked. Dalton continued Arabic studies via Project Global Officer which is a competitive program that helps future U.S. military officers develop linguistic and cross-cultural skills required for effective leadership. While honored by the State Department CLA Award Dalton has turned down the scholarship because of his combined commitments to the U.S. Army, Nursing Board exams, and the start date of his dream career at the Mayo Clinic as a surgical trauma ICU nurse. I'm proud to announce that Dalton has been part of our ROTC joint program the Maverick Battalion and he was commissioned yesterday as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. Sophomore Caroline Southworth's fascination with other cultures and languages started in her family's Montana home when she explained U.S. policy and norms to international visitors. At Gustavus Caroline has designed her own major combining political science, psychological science, economics, and Russian and German languages. Caroline is a CF, a German academic assistant, and last summer she worked in Washington DC for the Free Russia Foundation. Caroline aspires to use her education and experiences in a career at the federal level, possibly in the Foreign Service or CIA. Please join me in congratulating Abigail Dalton and Caroline. Next I invite forward the students honored for the Udall and Rossing scholarships. You may all start to come forward now. Junior Biology and Environmental Studies major Lily Kingsley was nominated for a Udall undergraduate scholarship in the environment for her leadership at Big Hill Farm including the corresponding student club associated with the farm. Lily also initiated a research project to determine optimal conditions for the campus composter. This project along with a campus recycling challenge meant that Lily frequently dug into garbage and compost bins. All with the objective of informing best sustainability practices at Gustavus. Lily will intern with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency this summer working as a surface water quality monitor. Next the awardees of the Rossing Physics Scholarship. Sophomore Emma Erickson is fascinated by electronics. She has competed in building events through the high school science Olympiad programs. She is intrigued by complex circuit construction especially its interface with computer science. At Gustavus she participates in orchestra the Society of Physics students and is secretary for the Women in Physics Club. She aspires to work in quantum computing and will intern at IBM this summer. Junior Caitlin Esby has done research on osteoporosis detection using acoustic field imaging. She also constructed a numerically controlled milling machine to provide extra fabrication capacity for the physics department. She uploaded her fabrication processes on YouTube to inspire other girls to pursue physics. This summer Caitlin will join the Duke Tunnel physics program and travel to Switzerland to conduct research at CERN which is the nuclear or the European Organization for Nuclear Research where she will use the particle accelerator facilities to address elemental questions about the nature of the universe. I invite all of you to recognize these outstanding students Lily, Caitlin, and Emma. Next I invite forward the student honorees for the Public Policy and International Affairs Summer Institute, Schwarzman Scholarship, and Scoville Peace Fellowship. First the awardees for the Public Policy and International Affairs Junior Summer Institute. Political Science major Worson Kumar will attend the Junior Summer Institute at the University of Michigan. Worson's public policy interests focus on resource imbalances in K-12 education. Since resources are based on property tax income, they disproportionately reduce educational funding in low-income areas. She has worked on a Minneapolis City Council campaign and tutored Somali children when COVID forced learning online and parents needed to work outside the home. Worson also is involved on campus in Ignite, a women's leadership club that fosters both voter engagement and voter education. Nisara Usmanova was named an alternate to the University of California Berkeley Summer Junior Institute, which centered on her career interests in international policy and law. This summer Nisara will study for the LSAT and she is applying to the Council of Foreign Relations Internship Program. Next fall she will study abroad at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. On campus Nisara co-founded a cultural awareness student organization called RISE, Respect Indigenous Societies Everywhere. She was also elected to the Student Senate and is a writing center tutor. Management major Astrid Axman was named an alternate for the Schwarzman Scholarship. If she does not go to China for a master's degree in global affairs, Astrid will start her career at the Boston Consulting Group in August. Astrid's career and interests lie in systems-level thinking and that is manifested in the work she has done developing statewide in-person and virtual 4-H conferences for North Dakota youth as well as optimizing events planning for the Gustavus Admissions Office. At Gustavus Astrid has been active in Dance, Student Senate, the Investment Club and Women in Leadership. Next the winner of the Scoville Peace Fellowship nomination is political science major Nathan Bering. Nathan could not attend today but he was selected as a finalist for the Scoville Peace Fellowship to conduct research for a Washington DC organization. His essay argued that peace is threatened as climate change opens Arctic Seas and maritime treaties may require renegotiation for Canada, the US, Scandinavia and Russia. Nathan turned down the Scoville to work for Arctic Encounter which helps develop an Alaskan clean economy. He will also start a graduate program in rural development at the University of Alaska to support new economic opportunities for his home state. Nathan was recently featured in the Netflix documentary Youth V. Gov as a plaintiff in a lawsuit that argues the federal government is harming the rights of youth by policies that exacerbate climate change. Nathan has spoken at many national and international venues aside government leaders, policy makers, indigenous people and activists. In addition to being a finalist for the Scoville Nathan was a Truman finalist and was awarded the National Udall Scholarship. Please join me in congratulating Nathan, Astrid, Nisera and Warsaw. Now I invite Jonas van Hecke who serves as the college's Dean of Students and Vice President of Student Life to introduce the next group of nominees. I'd like to invite forward the recipients of the Minnesota Campus Compact Award. This award is named for the Minnesota Campus Compact President's Award of Civic Engagement for Student Leadership and was given to the Gusty Buddies program coordinators which include Rachel Butzer-Gold, Sarah Elliott, Joseph Haug, Breanna Haugstead and Matthew Keeler. The Gusty Buddies coordinators work with Gustava students who are matched with youth from the area with special needs. Their leadership during the pandemic was admirable as they continue to engage the participants in new ways. Now that the program is back to normal with care and special attention the Gusty Buddy coordinators have furthered the Gustavus Gusty Buddies program to meet the needs of their buddies. Congratulations on your work. Next we will recognize three larger groups of students. Due to the size of these groups we will not be reading individual names. Alpha, Alpha, Alpha Honor Society. If you'd please rise if your name is in the program. The first group of new students of the Alpha, Alpha, Alpha Honor Society. This is the first year that Gustavus has had a campus chapter of this National Honor Society and we are so very proud of these capable, talented, inaugural class of inductees. First generation college students have extra challenges as they learn to navigate their collegiate experience. We commend these students who have achieved academic success. Please join me in recognizing these inductees. The Guild of St. Ansgar please rise if you're in this group. The next group of students to be recognized are the newest members of the Guild of St. Ansgar. This group of seniors are selected for both being academically strong students and for their involvement and leadership in the campus community. Thank you for all the ways that you have contributed to make the Gustavus community stronger. Join me in recognizing the inductees of the Guild of St. Ansgar. We recognize the Guild of St. Lucia. Please rise if you are an inductee. This highly selective group is chosen from a campus wide nomination process to honor the diverse group of junior women for their leadership and service on campus as well as their academic success. Congratulations on your selection and we look forward to the continued leadership that you will bring to campus next year. Let's give them a round of applause. Let's move to the Magnuson Awards. As we recognize college sponsored awards, the Magnuson is one of the highest honors of leadership achievements on our campus. Magnuson winners, please come forward as your name is read and audience, please hold your applause until all students have been recognized. First, Katie Ash Paul, a student from Chaska, Minnesota, earned a degree in December in sociology and anthropology with a minor in public health. During her time at Gustavus, Katie was involved in the campus activities board, varsity soccer, and the peer malt program, as well as Alpha Kappa Delta Sociology honors and Lambda Alpha anthropology honors. Katie spent four years as a campus executive, two as the social media chair, and two as the co-president. During her five seasons on the Gustavus women's soccer team, she played in every game, earning both academic all conference and all conference awards, led the team in goals for three seasons and was voted offensive MVP for the year. Brenda Derosa Lazaro is a senior political science major and minor in public health from Albert Lee, Minnesota and Vera Cruz, Mexico, who has been involved as a collegiate fellow, a co-president of the Gustavus Ambassadors, a member of the American Cancer Society at Gustavus, and most recently, a member of the Sigma Alpha Sigma Tau Sorority. Outside of campus, she's involved in student voices for the Minnesota Private College Council, where she advocated for an expansion of the Minnesota State Grant to increase access for students from low and middle class incomes. She's also served as a translator at the St. Peter Free Clinic and volunteered as a shelter advocate at Cata in Mankato. Senior Emily Falk is a triple major in political science, Spanish, Latin America, Latinx and Caribbean studies from Foley, Minnesota. Emily has served the Gustavus and St. Peter community through her work with Students for Reproductive Freedom, Student Senate, Building Bridges, and Gusty Greeders. As president of the Students for Reproductive Freedom for the last three years, Emily has spoken at the National Period Day Rally at the University of Minnesota to advocate for menstrual equity across the state, worked with Student Senate to provide free menstrual products in all of the campus center bathrooms, and won the national or won the champion of Gender and Sexuality Advocacy Award from the Diversity Leadership Council for the past two years. Kendall Harvey. Kendall is a senior psychological science major from Champlain, Minnesota, who has served on numerous leadership roles in the Gustavus community. She has been the co-president of the American Cancer Society at Gustavus, and the president of the Pre-Physical and Occupational Therapy Club. She has served the campus and leadership roles in Big Partner Little Partner, Sigma, Sigma, Sigma, Sigma Sorority, the Guild of St. Lucia, and has been involved with the Center for International and Cultural Education and the Office of Marketing and Communications. Benjamin Mengie. Ben is a senior statistics and political science major with honors from the Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Ben has enjoyed being an active member of the Gustavus community for the last four years. He has served on the Gustavus Student Senate and is currently co-president. He is a team leader in the Gustavus Writing Center and has been the student representative on the Collegewide Assessment Committee for three years. During Nobel Conference 57, Ben organized educational workshops and presented one of his own. Last year, Ben led efforts to help Gustavus participate in the 2020 election in which 84% of Gustavus students cast a ballot. Regina Alonso Vidalis is a senior political science major from Eden Prayer, Minnesota. Regina currently serves as Student Senate co-president and the president of Ignite at Gustavus, a nonprofit organization that aims to build women's political power. She has served as the president of the Model United Nations, been a member of the Gustavus voter engagement team, served on the Diversity Leadership Council, and was an intercultural partner. Regina has worked to educate the Gustavus and the St. Peter communities on voting, how to build political power, and more importantly, how to use a voice to advocate for social justice. And finally, Sidney Stammeberg is a secondary education social studies teaching major from Northbrook, Illinois. Sidney has held significant leadership positions on campus as a co-president of the American Cancer Society at Gustavus, an events leader for Big Partner, Little Partner, and has served as a Gusty Greeter and Gustavus ambassador. She's also a facilitator in the public deliberation and dialogue program on campus. Throughout her four years, she has worked in the marketing and communications office as a student designer for the quarterly magazine, high school curriculum creator for Nobel conference and as a photographer. Please join me in congratulating these individual recipients. In addition to individuals, we also recognize leaders of the following groups and events, the DLC Carnival. Diversity Leadership Council, or DLC, is a coordinating board comprised of 20-plus student organizations that are committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion on campus. DLC's theme this year was connecting the stars. To kick off the year, it hosted a carnival in mid-September designed to feature DLC student organizations and assist with member recruitment. The turnout was great and groups were able to build visibility and awareness. Mary Hong and Gina Zabrowski are the leaders representing the DLC Carnival. President's Ball. Gustavus's President's Ball, an event hosted by the Campus Activities Board, happened for the 36th time after a four-year absence this spring. Two sophomore traditions co-executives spearheaded this event with detailed planning that took place over the span of four months. This year's theme, Aurora Borealis, found over 360 students gathered in celebration and community. It was a night filled with dancing that re-established a long-standing and beloved tradition on the Gustavus campus. Emma Erickson and Claire Lynn are the leaders representing President's Ball. And finally, the American Cancer Society at Gustavus. The American Cancer Society has a mission of raising awareness and funds for the American Cancer Society National Organization. ACS has become a large part of the campus community through campus-wide events such as Paint It Purple Week, Pi Augusti, and Relay for Life. Kendall Harvey and Sidney Strummy-Burg are the leaders representing the American Cancer Society. Please join me in congratulating all of these outstanding students. Students, you can return to your seats. We now recognize the recipient of the Oven League and Schwembrostem Awards. Please come forward, students, and audience. Hold your applause until all students are recognized. The Oven League Award. The recipient of the Oven League Award is Amy Haney. Amy is a returning collegiate fellow serving in Narellius Hall on the We Are community in its pilot year. Amy has been a leader in developing the We Are Housing option to provide first-year students who identify within and as allies of the LGBTQ plus community with gender-neutral housing. A psychology major and GWSS minor, Amy's career goals include psychological research on sex, sexuality, and gender to better advocate for the LGBT community. The Schwembrostem Leadership Awards in Faith and Service. Colin Carlson is the recipient of the Schwembrostem Leadership and Service Award. Colin is a senior environmental studies and biology double major from Eden Prairie, Minnesota. Colin was instrumental in working with members of the Gustavus community in a project that resulted in the college being awarded Ashi Silver recognition for community-wide sustainability. Colin was able to weave together his academic coursework, research skills, advocacy efforts, and service and leadership to achieve this recognition. The Schwembrostem Award in Faith goes to senior Tegan Shoemaker. Tegan, who is a humble and intentional interfaith person, is a leader among her peers in the chaplain's office and goes above and beyond the expectations of her student employment to provide service to the initiatives of the office and to serve the wider community. In addition to her leadership on campus, Tegan has served by leading confirmation retreats, facilitating outreach through the Gustavus Youth Organization, multi-faith leadership council, and serving as an interfaith ambassador, as well as doing a preaching internship. Congratulations to all three of these campus leaders. The R. John Van Dusen Award. Finally, I'd like to recognize the recipient of the R. John Van Dusen Award. This year's recipient is Maya Lang-Venice. Maya, you can begin to make your way to the to the front. Maya is a physics major from Minneapolis, Minnesota. She was named a Rossings Physics Scholar in 2021 and this spring, Maya will be inducted into the Sigma Pi Sigma Honor Society. She has worked on campus for the physics department as a tutor and teaching assistant and has served as a peer malt. Maya has been involved in a number of student organizations and will complete her undergraduate degree in only seven semesters. After a lengthy period of debilitating symptoms with no diagnosis, doctors were finally able to determine that Maya has a neuromuscular disease that affects her mobility and causes muscle weakness, fatigue, drowsiness, and chronic pain. In her own words, Maya shares, I've had to balance being a full-time student while attending dozens of doctor's appointments and trying to make the best possible care of my deteriorating health. Living with a progressive condition like mine can make the simple act of taking care of yourself a full-time job. Maya has persevered and will graduate however she has gone well beyond that. She has been a consistent advocate for increased accessibility on campus by lending her voice and experience to helping campus administrators understand the mirrored ways that inaccessibility creates unnecessary barriers for all students. Her advocacy for universal design and increased awareness have been key in facilitating change at Gustavus and will continue to have a positive impact on campus. Please join me in congratulating this year's recipient, Maya. Students have been established to support the next two awards for the highest grade point averages earned by junior and senior students. These endowments provide a prize for the honored students. This year we are giving each student a book. The Albert G. Swanson Scholar award winners will receive the book Beyond Global Warming, How Numerical Models Revealed the Secrets of Climate Change by Sayukuro Manabe and the Gerhard T. Alexis Scholar award winners will receive Gravel Heart 2016 by Abdul Razzak Gurna. The Gerhardt Alexis award winners may now come forward as I call your name. The winners of this award for juniors who have earned a cumulative GPA of 4.0 are Luke Blazing, Lauren Bus, Jared Dawson, Abigail Doran, Elizabeth Hartman, Madeline Heshen, Derek Johnson, Eric Johnson, Elise Kalsnes, Kristen Martins, Morgan Mellum, Sophia Nelson, Samuel Peters, Emma Rousseau, Amelia Roth, Lauren Russell, Elliot Schroeder, Keely Shook, Jessica Schwartz, Carly Swanson-Garrow, Renee Troutman, Amelia Wernsing, Mikayla Woodward, Yuping Shang, Zoe Zarth, Gina Zabrowski. Please recognize the amazing accomplishments of these students with your applause. I'll gather up here in case anybody wants to take a photo so go ahead and line up. Again congratulations to this group of students. Now we will call forward the winners of the Albert G. Swanson Scholars Award for seniors who have earned a cumulative GPA of 4.0. These students are Lillian Anderson, Cameron Belter, Claire Brotsland, Nicholas Dole, Lucy Dolan, Regan Larson, Benjamin Menke, Emma Nelson, Madeline Sandish, Hannah Tengwa. Congratulations to all of these outstanding students and we'll let them line up too. Excellent. Thank you. Congratulations. Next we recognize students who have served this year as departmental academic assistants. Many faculty and administrative assistants say that the departmental academic assistants are critical to the success of the department. The nature and scope of the work varies for our academic assistants from helping faculty with specific courses, work on departmental projects, serving as a resource to other students, providing student input on departmental decisions, conducting research, or coordinating the departmental tutoring program. These students are selected by the departmental faculty for their proven academic ability, leadership, and commitment to the department. The students are listed on page nine of your program. Departmental academic assistants, please stand. We thank you for your dedication and hard work. Next we recognize a large group of students who have earned a cumulative GPA of 3.7 or better by the end of January term 2022. These students have been named to the president's honors list. Their names are printed on pages 10 through 12 of your program. Maintenance of a 3.7 GPA is a significant accomplishment at Gustavus. Our students are encouraged to dive into all aspects of college life. Most GUSTES participate in a multitude of co-curricular activities along with their curricular activities, and sometimes these activities are at odds with one another, especially in how a student has to balance and distribute their time. Among these students on the president's honors list we have athletes and musicians, members, and leaders of student organizations, students who volunteer in the community, and students who are employed on and off campus. Plus as a residential college, a student's life needs to include time for fun and relationships. Our honors list students have found a way to manage all aspects of college life while maintaining a high level of academic achievement. This is a major accomplishment. We salute the first-year students who made this honors list after their first semester of college, which can be a very hard transition. We salute the sophomores and juniors. Congratulations and keep up the great work and effort, and we commend our seniors who have maintained a high level of academic success for the entirety of their college career. President's honors list members, we are so glad that you're part of this ceremony and commend your hard work. Would you please rise so that we can applaud your efforts? Many of our academic departments and programs also have scholarships or awards. Faculty choose these student recipients based on merit, so these awards represent the highest honors granted by each department. The recipients, together with brief descriptions of the particular award, scholarship, honor society membership, or competition are in the program listed on pages 13 through 22. Students, even though we do not have time to name you individually during this program, in being chosen for a departmental or program award, Gustavus faculty extend their highest praise for you and your academic work. You are among a short list of the most outstanding students from your major or minor. On behalf of your departmental faculty, thank you for your hard work, your creativity, and your commitment to academic success. Please know that you inspire your faculty and we are grateful for your efforts. Departmental award honorees, please stand, so pages 13 to 22. Turning away from our students for just a moment toward faculty awards, I invite forward Madalena Marinari, who will present the 2022 Gustavus Faculty Scholarly Accomplishment Award. It's an absolute pleasure to be here today to celebrate all of your accomplishments. Congratulations, as you've just heard, I'm here to announce this year's recipient of the Faculty Scholarly Accomplishment Award, the highest award for research at Gustavus Adolphus College for faculty. This is never an easy decision. There are so many faculty members doing great research and it was exciting to learn about some of the great work that my colleagues are doing right now on campus. I'm not sure I'm going to succeed at this, but the tradition in presenting this award is to give you enough clues so that people in the audience can guess who the recipient is. I give it my best shot, but I'm not sure I succeed because I'm very, very excited to present this award. So let's see, you'll have to tell me afterwards if I succeed or not. This year's winner has long had a very active research agenda, one that miraculously has continued even during the pandemic. This commitment to continue working on our research speaks volume about this person's commitment to bringing together fields of inquiry that are often regarded as separate, but also to be a change agent. Her publications often include a passionate and powerful call to a patent development practice that currently exists and to return faith-based organizations to following Christian practices. Her work speaks to religion and development researchers, practitioners, and students. One of her most recent publications has been defined as a must read for anyone seeking tools to develop a liberation theology for today. If you haven't guessed yet, Professor Thea Cooper is this year's recipient of the Faculty Scholarly Accomplishment Award. I want to end, please hold your applause with a quotation from one of her colleagues that captures the importance of Thea's scholarship, her critical contributions to the fields of liberation theologies, feminist theologies, queer theologies, theology and development, non-Western Christianity and religion in Latin America, and her leadership in her field. Here goes the quote. Thea has ventured into areas of study where few believed religion even existed. Thus, her scholarship is more fully unveiled, the true magnitude and variety of religious experiences in contemporary society. Her research has been very bold. She enters prisons, she drives her forklift, she teaches us of the experiences of people of faith in global environments, and what we need to learn from one another in order to prosper together in a rapidly changing world. Congratulations, Thea. Student Senate Co-Presidents Regina Alono-Vidalas and Benjamin Menke for the presentation of the 2022 Swenson and Bun Memorial Award for Teaching Excellence. Thank you all for being here today. As Co-Presidents of the Student Senate, we are very happy to announce the winner of the only award given to a faculty member on behalf of the student body. The Swenson Bun Memorial Award for Teaching Excellence is presented in memory of two Gustavus students and members of the Student Senate, Greg Swenson and Holly Bun, who were tragically killed in a car accident in 1989. Every year, the Swenson Bun Memorial Award for Teaching Excellence is awarded to a member of the Gustavus Adolphus College faculty who embodies the qualities of excellence in their work at Gustavus. This year, we had an extremely difficult job. We had over 70 nominations from students and every single one of them detailed the excellence they experienced from faculty both within the classroom and outside. As we deliberated and sorted through the nominees, one person clearly stood out to us. In the words of one of the students, this professor makes their classes incredibly accessible to anyone who wishes to attend their lectures and has advocated for many students in terms of physical health, mental health, and more. Throughout the nomination process, we found that while this professor teaches some of the toughest materials in physics, they teach in a way that is inclusive, representative, and motivates real learning. Not only do they teach in the classroom, but this professor is a pillar of the Gustavus community as they advise many student organizations such as the Radicals, Crayson Allies, and a Moment of Magic as well, they are a fierce advocate for indigenous relations. It is due to their incredible care, mentorship, fierce advocacy for marginalized voices and students, and overall excellence that we are proud to present this award to Dr. Darsa Donilon on behalf of the Gustavus student body. Like me, are truly inspired by our students who've been awarded this recognition throughout this service. I think it would be appropriate to ask all of our student award winners to please all stand so that we can once more give you our acclaim for your hard work and your ability to be a great gusty. And our faculty, you've been amazing. This has been a hard couple of years. Our faculty are exceptionally good at connecting with our students one-on-one in every caring way through the trials and tribulations of this pandemic. I'd like to ask all of our faculty who are here with us today please stand and face this group for a chance for us to cheer for you and applaud all of your efforts. Thank you so much faculty, please stand. Turn around for you to please stand and remain standing for the benediction and the closing and recession from this event. Receive this blessing. May we never give up on our quest to discover what is true and honorable and just. May we nurture kindness and compassion for self, others, and even our enemies. And may we build each other up so that together we might employ the full force of our passion and power for the common good of all humanity and for the flourishing of this earth, our shared home. Amen. Thank you all for, well wait a second Chad. Now you know what's coming next. Thank you all for being here to be part of this 2022 Honors Convocation. An archive of the service will be remaining on our Honors Weekend webpage so please share with other family members or friends who are unable to attend. Following the ceremony which will include a recessional by the faculty you're all invited to a reception on Ekman Mall which is right outside the main entrance to the chapel. The schedule for the rest of the weekend is on the back of your program. I hope you are staying to enjoy and participate in other events. Students on behalf of the faculty and staff and your friends and family, we applaud you for your incredible efforts this year. May you all remain safe and healthy and students may you continue your hard work and your commitment to achieving excellence throughout the rest of your lives. Go Gusties! And now Chad, off we go!