MMC Celebrates 41st Annual Honors Day Colloquium

On Tuesday, March 13, 2018, Marymount Manhattan College held the 41st Annual Honors Day Colloquium.

An annual spring tradition, Honors Day is dedicated to the celebration of academic excellence at MMC; it is an event that seeks to build awareness among students of the importance of intellectual achievement within the academic community.

Select students presented faculty-sponsored work in a day-long, college-wide colloquium, setting the College’s classrooms and performance spaces abuzz. From research papers and scholarly works to creative projects (such as works of fine and performance art) and scientific studies conducted independently and in concert with faculty members, students presented their work and showcased the broad range of talents, interests, and academic excellence fostered by MMC’s liberal arts curriculum. The day also featured ceremonies to induct deserving students into the College’s varied honor societies.

Marymount Manhattan students were invited to submit their scholarly works to the Academic Honors Committee for an opportunity to earn awards and recognition during Honors Day. Prizes awarded for 2018 included: 

  • The Writing Program Award: Taylor Hollingsworth ’21, who presented Climate Change’s Kryptonite, sponsored by Magdalena Maczynskai, Ph.D., Associate Professor of English and World Literatures. 
  • The Student/Faculty Collaboration Awards: Patrick Riley ’20 and Roberta Frossard ’20, who presented What if Goodness Ruled the World?Utilizing a Comic Book Series and Puppet Musical to Promote a Disabilities Awareness and ‘Stop Bullying’ Platform in and out of Schools, sponsored by Nava Silton, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Psychology.
  • The Alpha Chi Award: Jennelie Korbes ’18, who presented Elderly Defendants Charged with Violent Offenses: Psychiatric, Medical, and Legal Characteristics, sponsored by Cheryl Paradis, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology.
  • The Alumni Association Award: Marjan Khan ’20, who presented The Pathogenic Microbial World of NYC Sidewalks: A Citizen Scientist Project, sponsored by Alessandra Leri, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Chemistry.
  • The Dean’s Award for Excellence: Kacie Reilly ’19, who presented Narcan for Isaac, sponsored by Jerry Williams, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Creative Writing.
  • The Dean’s Award – Honorable Mention: Tracy Tauro ’18, who presented Exploration of conformational selection during translesion synthesis: in silico studies of DinB, sponsored by Benedetta Sampoli Benitez, Ph.D., Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry. 

Magdalenda Maczynska, Ph.D. was also named the recipient of Marymount Manhattan’s 2017 Teaching Excellence Award, which honors a faculty member who exemplifies the best in student-centered teaching and learning.

In addition to recognizing academic excellence in our student body, Honors Day also features the annual Barry Commoner Lecture for the Environment. MMC was proud to host Dr. Laurence Smith, leading UCLA climate scientist and author of The World in 2050. Dr. Smith delivered his lecture, Climate Change: The New North, to a full theatre.

Special thanks is extended to the Academic Honors Committee for organizing and sponsoring this wonderful day:

  • Vinod Changarath, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Finance;
  • Dan Hunt, MFA, Assistant Professor of Communication and Media Arts;
  • Alessandra Leri, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Chemistry;
  • Magdalena Maczynska, Ph.D., Associate Professor of English and World Literatures; and
  • Elisabeth Motley, MFA, Assistant Professor of Dance

Congratulations to all who participated!

Published: March 14, 2018

Math Department Holds The Eleventh Annual Pi-Day Contest

Every year, the Mathematics department holds a College-wide π-Day contest. Students, faculty, and staff are invited to submit an original sentence, paragraph, poem, or short story that uses the digits of π in order (π ≈ 3.1415926..).