Students Earn Top State Honors from SUNY Chancellor
PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. (April 22, 2010) -- Four SUNY Plattsburgh students were among those
receiving the 2010 Chancellor's Award for Student Excellence at a ceremony presided
over by State University of New York Chancellor Nancy Zimpher earlier this month.
Nishank Bhalla, a senior biochemistry major from India; Elizabeth "Betty" Lavoie,
a senior biology major from Plattsburgh; Benjamin Pomerance, a senior political
science and journalism major from Plattsburgh; and Carolyn Strauss, a December 2009
graduate from Binghamton, N.Y., who majored in environmental science, planning and
management, were SUNY Plattsburgh's recipients.
They were among 228 students from 63 SUNY campuses statewide to receive the framed
certificate and a medallion, traditionally worn at commencement. The students were
honored for having an overall grade-point average of 3.8 and records of significant
contributions to their campuses and community.
"The students we honor today have excelled academically and taken advantage of what
SUNY has to offer outside the classroom," Zimpher said. "These students are proven
leaders, athletes, artists, community servants and much more."
"These students are known to represent the best and the brightest that SUNY has to
offer," said SUNY Plattsburgh President John Ettling. "We are immensely proud of their
achievements."Bhalla has been on the dean's list all eight semesters of his SUNY Plattsburgh career;
is a member of the college's Honor's Program and several honor societies including
Omicron Delta Kappa, the national leadership honor society; and is the recipient of
multiple scholarships from SUNY Plattsburgh including the Hudson Science Scholarship
in Chemistry, the Redcay Honors Scholarship and the CRC Press Freshman Chemistry Award.
Bhalla has presented numerous research projects at the national level, earning the
Superior Research Poster Award two years in a row from Sigma Xi, the scientific honor
society. He has served as a teaching assistant, an international orientation group
leader for International Student Services and has logged in many volunteer hours with
the Plattsburgh Student Service Corps; the Salvation Army, from which he received
a certificate of appreciation; and the Faith Victory Association in Kigali, Rwanda.Lavoie has presented a multitude of research projects nationally and earned, among
other awards, the top poster honors at the National Association for Biology Teachers
conference for her two-year-long research project, "Analysis of A-DNA from Maya Skeletal
Remains Using the Mitochondrial Control Region." She belongs to numerous national
and regional honor societies, including Sigma Xi, ODK and Phi Eta Sigma, the freshman
honor society. In addition, she has received numerous scholarships including the Hudson
Scholarship for Academic Excellence and the Redcay Honors Scholarship.
A dean's list student every semester, Lavoie participated in an independent research
project with Dr. Christopher Martine where she accompanied him to Kakadu National
park and Litchfield National Park in the Northern Territory, Australia, to collect
Australian wild eggplant relatives. The group located a potentially new species of
wild eggplant. Further research on the samples brought her to the University of Connecticut
after their return to the United States.
She has served as a teaching assistant and a member of the Student Committee on Teaching
Excellence and the Educational Technology Advisory Group, as well as completing many
hours in volunteer positions across campus and in the community.
An avid community volunteer, Pomerance has supported fundraising efforts for Adirondack Regional Theater, Relay for Life, Nothing But Nets, the American Heart Association and the holiday toy drive coordinated by the Student Service Corps, among other efforts. He has served as a legal volunteer with Prisoners Legal Service, attorney Edward Meyers and the Legal Aid Society of Northern New York, in addition to serving as an intern with the Legal Studies Institute in Washington, D.C.
As a writer, he has been published in numerous publications, including the New York Daily News, Lake Champlain Weekly, Cardinal Points and All Points North. He was a national essay contest grand-prize winner in the Hands Along the Nile Development Services Inc. Helping Hands Essay contest. As a singer, dancer and performer, Pomerance has participated in shows and productions by the North Country Ballet Ensemble, Ormstown (Canada) Ballet, Adirondack Regional Theater and SUNY Plattsburgh theater department. He is also a member of the Champlain Valley Singers and the SUNY Plattsburgh Sinfonia.
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She is a member of ODK and Phi Kappa Phi honor societies and has served as an intern with U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, the Clinton County Emergency Planning Committee and Office of Emergency Services, the Rensselaer County Natural Resources Conservation Service and Adirondack Park Agency. Strauss has also volunteered as a SUNY Plattsburgh admissions tour guide and peer recruiter, and with Clinton County Adopt-a-Highway, the Natural Resources Conservation Service and Adirondack Humane Society.
The Chancellor's Award for Student Excellence was created in 1997 to recognize students who have best demonstrated, and been recognized for, the integration of academic excellence with accomplishments in the areas of leadership, athletics, community service, creative and performing arts or career achievement.
Each year, campus presidents establish a selection committee, which reviews exemplary members of their college communities who are graduating. Nominees are then forwarded to the Chancellor's Office and are subject to a second round of review. Finalists are then recommended to the chancellor to become recipients of the award.
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