Honoring Student Achievement
Students, faculty and staff gathered to recognize outstanding achievements by Communication students
Justin T. McCarthy Award for Journalism
Established in 1976 in memory of Justin T.McCarthy, is given to the senior students who have excelled in oratory or other forms of public expression. Each year, the faculty in the department solicit nominations for these awards and select the students who most represent the spirit of the award in multiple categories.
Sarah Young
The Artie Schmidt Film Award
The Artie Schmidt Film Award is given to the graduating senior who plans to pursue a career in the Entertainment Industry and has demonstrated a passion for filmmaking and the concern for others’ well-being that Artie Schmidt exemplified during his Oscar and Emmy-winning career as a film editor.
Rena Zhang
The Communication Department Prize
Established in 1985 by alumni and friends, the Communication Department Prize is given by the faculty of the Department of Communication to the graduating seniors who best meet the goals of the department—education of the mind, heart, and voice. Each year, the faculty vote on the recipient(s) of this award.
Jerry Wang
Recognition of Students Graduating with Honors and Lambda Pi Eta Induction
UNIVERSITY LATIN HONORS. Based on an evaluation of the student’s entire work while at Santa Clara, the following Latin Honors can be bestowed upon graduation:
Cum Laude - 3.50 - 3.69 GPA
Anna Stucchi, Angel Vo, Desmond McDowell, Caroline Wing, Sean Nguyen, Seamus McMahon, Abigail Carp, Elizabeth Biely, Ashley Venegas Ortiz, Marielle Arnold, Stephanie Heraz, Thomas Dunn, Alyssa Gorsch, Shannon Petersen
Magna Cum Laude - 3.70 - 3.89 GPA
Taylor Cook, Emily Caton, Jean Lau, Mia Villanueva, Nicole Van Stralen, Katelyn Wong, Elliott Becker, Samantha Drumm, Ashley Pace, Richard Corona, Ryan Jaffray, Katherine Kishton, Rena Zhang
Summa Cum Laude - 3.90 - 4.00 GPA
Sarah Young, Lauryn Ige, Lorna Johnson, Michael Davis, Elena Carter, Iliana Kraaijvanger, Scott Schertler, Emma Lim, Yiling Chen, Alison Hoff, Anneliese Seidel, Shreyansh Panda
LAMBDA PI ETA (LPH) is the National Communication Association’s official honor society at four-year colleges and universities. LPH represents what Aristotle described in Rhetoric as three ingredients of persuasion: logos (Lambda), meaning logic; pathos (Pi), relating to emotion; and ethos (Eta), defined as character credibility and ethics. The Theta Rho Chapter was installed at SCU in 1999 and is meant to recognize, foster, and reward outstanding scholastic achievement in Communication Studies. Lucy Allen, Emma Rose Alva,Marielle Arnold, Marjorie Anne Burns, Celia Campo, Emily Caton, Yiling Chen, Katherine Clark, Margaret Clark, Taylor Cook, Richard Corona, Isabelle Daheb, Samantha Drumm, Sarah El Shenawy, Sara Gershfield, Alyssa Gorsch, Nicholas Hein, Ana Boa Thoa Henderson, Louis Hoffmann, Lauryn Ige, Mason Edmund Keeffe, Haley Janell Koehler, Iliana Kraaijvanger, Emma Lim, Laisha Lizarraga, Emilia Francesca Locatelli, Hannah MacDougall, Maggie McCurdy, Desmond McDowell, Seamus McMahon, Citlalli D’Amore Nieblas, Sean Tai Nguyen, Bridget O’Connor, Monet Oosthuizen, Ashley Pace, Shannon Cadie Petersen, Alexandria Pritchard, Charles Savage, Scott Schertler, Jenna Shuey, Caroline Seaman, Mia Smith, Amelia Strotman, Regan Toepel, Quinlan Van de Voorde, Nicole Van Stralen, Mia Villanueva, Hallie Wigsten, Mutian “Jerry” Wang, Caroline Wing, Jack Wolf, Rena Zhang
Recognition of Students Who Have Served as Research and Teaching Assistants
We thank the students who have served as Research Assistants and Teaching Assistants/Peer Educators in the Department of Communication during the 2023-2024 academic year.
Research Assistants
Hannah MacDougal, Reyna Rajkumar, Declan Lavery, Darrien Mitri, Kaitlin Webster, Ellen Duncan, Rena Zhang, Anisha Malani, Fernando Salvador Francisco, Amy Suh, Jacqueline Thai, Seamus McMahon, Madison Smith, Sarah Young, Sara Wheeler, Giovanna Reid, Gillian Tran, Laisha Llizarraga
Teaching Assistants/Peer Educators
Alisha Smith, Denae Rivera, Freya Wang, Grace Knight, Hanna Jung, Matt Walter, Melissa Ortiz, Mia Perry, Michael Davis, Seamus McMahon, Sully Misner, Yuling (Ivy) Wu
Justin T. McCarthy Award for Journalism recipient Sarah Young (left), Communication Department Chair Michael Whalen, Communication Department Prize recipient Jerry Wang, and Artie Schmidt Film Award recipient Rena Zhang (right).