71 Students Inducted into GS Honor Society

On Thursday, February 27, faculty, staff, friends, and family gathered at Columbia’s Faculty House to celebrate the induction of 71 students into the School of General Studies Honor Society.

The GS Honor Society was created in 1997 to recognize the exceptional academic achievements of GS students who have earned a cumulative GPA of at least 3.8 in more than 30 points of academic coursework at Columbia. Dean Lisa Rosen-Metsch welcomed the attendees with opening remarks, followed by the presentation of the new members by Victoria Rosner, Dean of Academic Affairs.

Dean Rosner remarked, "These students are not everyone’s idea of 'typical American college students.' Many of them are international in their origins, and global in their outlook. They have a maturity derived from life experiences including military service, parenthood, career achievement, immigration, and artistic endeavor. Many have rebounded from significant challenges including serious illness, financial hardship, addiction, bereavement, violence, homelessness and ethnic persecution."

She added, "A number of these students are the first in their families to attend college, or even the first in their families to complete high school. Others have had to postpone their own educations to care for family members, including putting their own children through college before having the chance to go to school themselves. Some are immigrants to the U.S., in many cases studying in a language that is not their first. A number of these students began their academic careers at community colleges, and through extraordinary accomplishment and initiative, forged a path to Columbia. Whatever their histories, we find these students now at the pinnacle of undergraduate academic success at Columbia. Every one of them has worked hard to earn a place here, and all share an ambition to make the most of their Columbia experience.”

Among those inducted this spring are students enrolled in the School’s dual-degree programs with List College of Jewish Theological Seminary, with Sciences Po in France, with City University of Hong Kong, and Trinity College Dublin, and students from countries all around the world, including France, South Korea, Austria, Israel, Portugal, Italy, Egypt, Germany, China, Brazil, Haiti, and Belgium.

Dean Rosner said, “Diversity is the hallmark of the GS student – diversity of age, experience, gender and sexual identity, national and ethnic origins, and every other axis of human definition, and the students gathered here tonight embody that fact.  Our dual degree program students, significant among tonight’s inductees, represent a particular kind of diversity at Columbia GS – students who have chosen to pursue a non-traditional approach to undergraduate education by attending two colleges.”

The chief aim of the GS Honor Society is to cultivate interaction among those committed to intellectual discovery and academic excellence. The only group of its kind at the University, the Society offers opportunities throughout the year for its student and alumni members to interact with one another, as well as with the faculty who enjoy working with such outstanding scholars.

Inductees

Carolina Ahn

Helena Bauer-Mitterlehner

Julie Bishop

Jonathan Bofman

Luisa Bridi Dacroce

John Luke Bruni

Carolyn Christenson

Lenny Ciotti

Caroline Clifford

Andrew Creed

Darcy Diaz

Andrew Dunn

Sara Elbanna

Kristina Elhauge

Viviana Evans

Dor Feingold

Anna Feldman

Aeffia Feuerstein

Michael Futral

Emily Garfunkel

Lydia Georgantzi

Cassidy Hall

Bar Halperin

Paige Hinkley

Judah Hoffman

Brett Hofford

Karissa Hutchison

Anna GraceIrwin

Keren Jason

Chuqi Jiang

Elizabeth Jones

Aviva Kamens

Jonathan Karten

Andrew Kenn

Ruby Kernkamp

Sukgi Kim

Jessica YeSeul Kim

Claude Knobler

Sungchul Ko

Rowena Kosher

Carolina Lacs

Hailey Landers

Destine Lee

Jeongdoo Lee

Robert Lynch

Heide Morris

Robert Motz

Rachel Oaks-Leaf

SeHyun Park

Yining Peng

Gal Polani

Devon Powell

Kirat Randhawa

Amit Regev

Joshua Reiss

Mathilde Renaudie

Caroline Rice

Jonathan Schwartz

Soo Young Shin

Christopher Sim

Linda Berenice Sylverain

Mark Thompson

Jennifer Todaro

Egnatia Vaso

Patrick Verheyden

Amy Wilder

Claudia Wolff

Renzhu Xu

Andrew Yablonsky

Zheng Zhang

Fan Zheng