CAMPUS BRIEFS

Pitt seniors win award Jacob Brown, Staff Writer

Seniors Andrea Youngo and Joseph… Pitt seniors win award Jacob Brown, Staff Writer

Seniors Andrea Youngo and Joseph Pasqualichio are the total package, and now they each have the award to prove it. The pair was honored with the 2007 Omicron Delta Kappa Senior of the Year Award.

The award, founded in 1914 by an honorary society, is for students who maintain high levels of leadership in academics and throughout the campus community Pasqualichio, an electrical engineering major with an economics minor, feels that balancing many activities helps him succeed.

“I find that when I am busy, I tend to get more done because I am on a role and have more energy,” he said. “I always need something constructive to do.”

Youngo, a marketing, communications and rhetorical studies major also finds hard work to be the key to her success.

“Sometimes it takes sacrifice and long hours to do what needs to be done,” she said.

Both Youngo and Pasqualichio were encouraged to apply for the award from peers and administrators at Pitt, and they both feel grateful for the guidance that they have received throughout their academic careers. Each of the two award recipients believe that their experiences in leadership roles have made them better people, SGB president for Pasqualichio and Pitt Program Council for Youngo.

“Everyone applying to top jobs has great grades and internship experience,” Pasqualichio said. “I think it has been my leadership experience and the responsibility I have taken on above my class schedule that has made the difference in getting offers.”

“I have been given the responsibility to make changes that have had a real impact on the lives of students at the University,” Youngo said. “These opportunities have tested the limits of my abilities and strengths to take me to places that I didn’t think I could go.”

Honors college senior received award Laura Smith, Staff Writer

Joanna McKee, a Pitt Honors College senior from Ambler, Pa., received the Emma W. Locke Award last month at Pitt’s annual Honors Convocation, which took place Feb. 23 in Oakland’s Carnegie Music Hall.

Charles A. Locke established the award in 1946 in memory of his mother, and each year it is presented in recognition of high scholarship, character and devotion to the ideals of the University. It is awarded to a graduating senior who has a cumulative GPA of at least 3.85 and who plans to continue his or her education after graduation.

McKee, who has a 3.97 GPA, will graduate this April with a bachelor of science degree in nursing and a bachelor of philosophy from Pitt’s Honors College.

During her time here, McKee has consistently demonstrated her dedication to serving others, internationally and at home, through her work with AIDS patients in Botswana, her volunteer work with elderly Mexicans at a nursing home in Guadalajara, an internship at a rural hospital in Patzcuaro, Mexico, and her work at a free, bilingual health clinic on the South Side.

After graduation, McKee plans to attend graduate school for nursing and possibly public health. She hopes to one day open a bilingual clinic to provide health services to the poor and uninsured.

Pitt associate professor gets fellowship award Eli Dile, Staff Writer

Pitt associate professor of English Fiona Cheong is one of 68 artists who will be awarded the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts 2007 Fellowship, which includes a $10,000 grant.

The Individual Creative Artists Fellowship is awarded annually to Pennsylvania artists to help develop their work. Grants range from $5,000 to $10,000.

Cheong received the award for a submission from her unpublished manuscript, “Chinese.” She is one of 17 artists being awarded for works of literature. Other categories include folk and traditional arts, media arts, music, photography and theater.

The PCA was founded in 1966. Its mission is “to foster excellence, diversity and vitality of the arts in Pennsylvania and to broaden the availability and appreciation of those arts throughout the state.”

Cheong received a B.A. in English and an M.F.A. in creative writing from Cornell University. She has written two novels, “The Scent of the Gods” and “Shadow Theatre.” She also contributed to “Charlie Chan is Dead: An Anthology of Contemporary Asian American Literature” and “Tilting the Continent: Southeast Asian American Writing.”

Cheong teaches Asian-American and transnational literature, contemporary fiction, creative writing pedagogies and women’s studies at Pitt. She also teaches graduate and undergraduate fiction workshops.

Cheong is the co-founder and co-mentor of the Asian-American Writer’s Forum, an organization of graduate and advanced undergraduate writers at Pitt.