More than 140 students were honored Monday with awards and scholarships for excellence in their individual fields of study at the Chancellor’s Undergraduate Awards Ceremony.
The research projects ranged from biomedical engineering to art, and about 50 majors were recognized.
Hilldale Undergraduate/Faculty Research Fellowships; Holstrom Environment Scholarships; Sophomore Research Fellowships; University Bookstore Awards for Academic Excellence; Theodore Herfurth and Teddy Kubly Awards for Initiative; and Efficiency and National Scholarships were all awarded in the ceremony.
There are three things student researchers always have in common, Chancellor Rebecca Blank said. Passion, involvement in discussion and new ideas and motivation to push oneself are all things that “will continue to serve [students well],” no matter what path these researchers take.
Transcript: The Badger Herald sits down with Chancellor Rebecca Blank
“All of you have shown a commitment to the Wisconsin Idea, which means sharing your knowledge and discoveries beyond the borders of this campus to enrich the larger community,” Blank said.
Provost Sarah Mangelsdorf highlighted the Hilldale winners. The 107 winners were each given $3,000. Only 22 were awarded sophomore research fellowships out of 92 applications.
One sophomore research fellow, University of Wisconsin freshman Mackenzie Berry, won her award through a documentary project about Muhammad Ali’s influence on hip-hop and spoken word. She also studied sexism in American culture perpetuated through Ali’s ideologies.
Berry said she decided to study the topic since many did not discuss sexism in Ali’s spoken word pieces because of his role as a prominent figurehead.
“I’m looking at different distribution methods for the project [and] venturing into film festivals,” Berry said.
UW also presented 12 scholarships to 11 recipients.
The Goldwater Scholarship, Truman Scholarship, Udall Scholarship, Schwarzman Scholarship, Marshall Scholarship and Rhodes Scholarship were all granted to UW undergraduates.
President of the Wisconsin Union Deshawn McKinney was a Rhodes Scholar finalist won the Marshall Scholarship. These scholarships provided McKinney with a full tuition scholarship to the London School of Economics and Political Science for graduate school.
“I hope that, in the future, a lot more of these scholarship recipients — particularly the national ones — start to [be people of color],” McKinney said. “I hope they know it’s possible.”
