Many honored for work and service at Robins Awards
Utah State University students, faculty members and staff were recognized for their outstanding achievements and service during the 55th Annual Robins Awards ceremony, Saturday night.
“When you believe, anything is possible,” said awards chairman Nic Gordon as he welcomed the evening with special guest, Walt Gregory.
Gregory’s music selections accompanied the awards. The singer and songwriter is known for creating the “Mormon Rap” song that has sold 95,000 copies worldwide.
The Bill E. Robins Memorial Award was presented to Scott Larsen by Provost Stan Albrecht. Larsen, who is dual majoring in pre-med and Spanish, has a cumulative GPA of 3.8. Larsen is the founder, director and president of Volunteers Involved in Development Abroad. He has volunteered in seven different communities and four countries and published three academic research papers.
Larsen said he wants to become a doctor because of the many people in who have dealt with cancer. In his acceptance speech he thanked many of those who helped him succeed. Larsen has received numerous other awards while studying at USU.
The audience laughed after Larsen gave thanks to his parents.
“I wouldn’t be here today without them … literally,” he said.
Albrecht said the Bill E. Robins Memorial Award is given to a student who exemplifies the “best youth has to offer.” The award emphasizes academics, dedication and leadership shown through Larsen’s college career at USU.
Cameron Woolf, the 2003-04 Val R. Christensen Service Center director, as Man of the Year and Kiersten Hewitt as Woman of the Year.
Leaving things better than they were is Hewitt’s life philosophy that touches everything she does announced Vice President of Student Services Juan Franco. One of the things Hewitt did that left things better in her community was the creation of “Angels for Christmas.” The fund-raiser accumulated $3,000 for three needy families.
For times that Hewitt needed to study instead of doing housework, she thanked her husband for doing the laundry.
Nancy Van Kampen, a Robins Award recipient in 1998, presented the Gerald R. Sherratt Award to Interim Athletics Director Fred Hunsaker. He was chosen for superior work, leadership and dedication to USU and its students for 12 years.
“I think it’s easy being a good administrator when you have the support of great people around you,” said Hunsaker who retired from his position as Vice President of Administrative Services in December.
Hunsaker received an undergraduate degree from USU in 1965 and returned to USU in 1991. He has also held other positions at USU such as vice chair of the USU Foundation and the treasurer of the Big Blue Club.
He said working with USU students also provided him with a great experience.
“We have the best students anywhere,” Hunsaker said.
Kurtis Reed, a pre-med student graduating with a bachelor’s degree in biology, was awarded the Scholar of the Year award.
“This award is a reflection of the quality of educators that I have encountered at the university,” Reed said.
Reed is a 4.0 student and scored in the 99.5 percentile on the MCAT test. Reed is currently interviewing for Harvard Medical School.
The Wright Flyer Project was awarded for celebrating 100 years of powered flight and continuing to bring USU state, national and international recognition. David Widauf, a professor in the industrial technology and education department, accepted the award on behalf of the USU Space Dynamics Lab and students who worked on the redesigned aircraft that was flown 330 times across the country.
“We got to take the spirit of Utah throughout the whole country,” Widauf said.
According to the awards program, all those nominated for the awards were asked to submit a comprehensive biography to an 11-person selection committee for
evaluation.
The event memorialized Bill E. Robins, a USU student body president and a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity. Robins and his wife died in an airplane crash after their departure from a Denver airport in 1954.
-doantn@cc.usu.edu
The USU Wright Flyer project won Achievement of the Year at the 55th Annual Robins Awards. David Widauf and Marc Karpowich accepted the award for the team. (Photo by John Zsiray)