NOTE: This web page is archived for the Class of 2003. To see the Commencement site for this year's class, click here.

The 21st Century Leader Awards

The 21st-Century Leader Awards recognize University of Massachusetts Amherst graduating seniors who have demonstrated exemplary standards of achievement, initiative, and social awareness. The recipients have excelled in one or more areas: as leaders uniting and inspiring others to take constructive action; as researchers in their respective fields; as community activists on or off campus; as undergraduate teaching assistants motivating others to learn; as role models in overcoming personal obstacles; or as significant creative or athletic talents. They have further demonstrated integrity, discipline, courage, compassion, and good humor. These awards are presented in the confident expectation that all of the recipients will bring further honor to themselves and the University.

Heather A. Berthiaume
Communication Disorders

A Commonwealth College honors student who has made the Dean's List every semester, Heather Berthiaume was drawn to the study of communication disorders by her close relationship with her youngest brother, who was born with Down's syndrome. She has conducted original research on the auditory health benefits college-age musicians might reap by wearing earplugs while practicing. Berthiaume is highly active in community service, having volunteered since 1992 in support of such events as the Special Olympics. She earned praise from faculty and students alike as an undergraduate teaching assistant for three Communication Disorders classes and for participating in the International Teaching Assistants Program.

Christina Calvaneso
Operations Management

While serving as an associate at the University's Virtual Center for Supernetworks-an organization that promotes the study and application of supernetworks in academia, industry, and government-Christina Calvaneso conducted research sponsored by a National Science Foundation grant. As president of the Isenberg School of Management's Undergraduate Leadership (ULEAD) Council, she restructured the organization, spearheaded its First Annual Leadership Forum, and oversaw food and clothing collections for local survival centers. She has also worked with underprivileged students in Kingsport, Tenn. Calvaneso helped develop the curriculum for the Isenberg School's freshman orientation and was a teaching assistant in a course on quantitative tools management.

Jorge L. Oliver Díaz
History/Classics

A non-native English speaker, Jorge L. Oliver Díaz chose reading- and writing-intensive majors in pursuit of his goal of teaching Latin American history at the college level. At the University's Thatcher Language House, where residents immerse themselves in any of six foreign languages, he has been widely recognized for his efforts on the Spanish floor, conducting classes to enhance his peers' knowledge of Spanish and Caribbean cultures and generally encouraging a harmonious atmosphere. Díaz's community service has included tutoring in the Amherst schools, volunteering at Red Cross, collecting donations for the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, and taking part in the annual Walk for Hunger.

Kristin Leigh Forloney
Microbiology

Having amassed an exemplary record of achievement in microbiological research, Kristin Leigh Forloney last year received an honor granted few undergraduates: she was asked to address the annual meeting of the American Society of Microbiology-one of the largest and most important professional meetings in the field-on the independent research she was conducting. She has also presented her work at the University Undergraduate Research Conference and received many awards. During the past five years, Forloney has volunteered with the American Cancer Society and the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, tutored children in math and reading, and worked with underprivileged teens in Holyoke.

Judd E. Galloway
Civil and Environmental Engineering

At age 28, Judd E. Galloway is a non-traditional student who during two years as president of the University chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers transformed it into one of the nation's finest student chapters. He has also worked with department professors on the campus's bridge restoration project. While serving in the Navy, Galloway specialized in cryptologics, leading and directing a six-member aircrew in intelligence collection. In Bosnia he organized and instructed group training sessions and oversaw the work of twenty translators. He has held workshops on civil engineering for the Girl Scouts and taken part in five Habitat for Humanity building sessions.

Jonathan J. Laubinger
Philosophy

Despite belonging to several honor societies, regularly making the Dean's List, and having been a Rhodes Scholarship nominee, Commonwealth College honors student Jonathan J. Laubinger may have had his greatest moment at this University on the night of September 11, 2001, when he offered comfort and consolation to some 4,000 students attending a campuswide vigil he organized. Laubinger also served on the University of Massachusetts Board of Trustees as student representative for this campus and represented the University in the 5k race sponsored by the 12th International Conference on AIDS/STDs in Africa. He is a practiced and powerful public speaker.

Erica Holly Mattison
Psychology

Passionately interested in politics and psychology, Erica Holly Mattison has completed an honors thesis on public perceptions of male and female political candidates and has volunteered with several state and national political campaigns. Mattison's academic achievements have been recognized by more than ten groups, including national honor societies, and she was a Truman Scholarship national finalist. She conceived of and developed this campus's Dean's List Reception. Mattison has been a tour guide at the U.S. Capitol, the Massachusetts State House, and the Paul Revere House, and interned with the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism.

William A. Powers
Political Science/Psychology

Having done a political science honors thesis on partisan "de-alignment" in Massachusetts politics, William A. Powers has further demonstrated his interest in government by serving since 2000 in many capacities in the Student Government Association and by being this campus's student representative on the University of Massachusetts Board of Trustees. He has also been very active with the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group, helping to coordinate campus voter registration and a local energy efficiency program, and serving in several posts at the state level and on the National Student Forum. Powers is a Commonwealth College honors student and a member of several honor societies.

Heather L. Ruel
Geography

The Hampshire County Conservation District chose Heather L. Ruel as the recipient of its 2002 Conservationist of the Year Award for her research and activism related to eradicating the highly invasive Asian water chestnut, which is choking rivers, streams, and ponds throughout New England. A non-traditional student, Ruel in her work blends academics, research, and outreach in a way that both derives from and celebrates this University's origins as a landgrant institution. Aside from completing an honors thesis on the Asian water chestnut, she has organized a number of "spotting and pulling" events at various sites to help fight its spread.

Doug White
Management

As the only varsity athlete nominated for Commonwealth College's Dean's List, Doug White has brilliantly balanced the demands of high academic achievement, playing on a Division 1- AA football team, and taking leadership positions in a startling array of extra- and co-curricular activities-twenty-five in all, accounting for four pages of his curriculum vitae. He is a three-time Academic All-Atlantic 10 Selection and holds the all-time University record in career field-goal percentage. He has volunteered for the Amherst Survival Center, Habitat for Humanity, and the Tobacco Control Program, and helped form an academic partnership between this University and the University of Ulster in Ireland.

Nicole Marie Yukna
History

This past January, Nicole Marie Yukna traveled to South Africa to do research for her senior thesis comparing urban and rural experiences during the overthrow of apartheid and emergence of democracy in South Africa. The compassion and perceptiveness she showed there were also apparent in her revival of this University's chapter of Amnesty International. Elected to Phi Beta Kappa as a junior, she is the only member of this year's Phi Beta Kappa class with a perfect 4.0 grade point average. She has studied at Oxford and interned with the Governor's Press Office at the Massachusetts State House and the Suffolk County Victim-Witness Advocate Program.