CLU students honored for academics

(THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – June 17, 2014) California Lutheran University has honored several top students for their academic achievements.

Harold Muliadi of Thousand Oaks and Kevin Wilmott of Simi Valley both received the Provost’s Award for Academic Excellence as valedictorians of the Class of 2014. They had the highest cumulative GPAs for all college work. Muliadi earned a bachelor’s degree in art while tutoring others in writing about art, history and religion. He works in graphite and charcoal drawing, oil painting and digital painting. He would like to become an artist in the film or game industry. Wilmott earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and political science. He worked for the Office of Campus Safety, served as a peer adviser and was a member of the All University Hearing Board and criminal justice and political science honor societies. He interned with the U.S. Secret Service and is a police officer trainee.

Lauren Goss, an English major from Simi Valley, received the $1,000 Mark Van Doren Poetry Prize for a collection of her poems. English Department faculty awarded Michael Nicholson of Simi Valley the $500 Ledbetter Prize for Excellence in Writing for a short story that was deemed the best literary work by an English major.

Jennifer Robinson of Simi Valley received the $500 O. Fritiof Ander History Award as the most outstanding graduating history major and the $500 Smith Family Writing History Award for the best history paper submitted during the year.

Twenty-four new members of the Scholastic Honor Society, the highest academic honor at CLU, were announced. The new members are Jared Berman, a biology major from Westlake Village; Jordan Berry, a criminal justice major from Elk Grove; Steven Boggess, a biochemistry and molecular biology major from Loveland, Colorado; Leah Brodie, a criminal justice major from Sacramento; Nerissa Cauthen, a communication major from Simi Valley; Madeline Christman, a mathematics major from Simi Valley; Tori Dahl, a biology major from Anoka, Minnesota; Rachael Drew, a global studies major from Boise, Idaho; Tavish Dunn, a mathematics major from Simi Valley; Christina Espegren, an interdisciplinary studies major from Sacramento; Michael Frieda, a political science major from Thousand Oaks; Kathryn Hemming, an interdisciplinary studies major from Tacoma, Washington; Shawn Jackson, a mathematics major from Palmdale; Aubrey Kaye, a computer science major from Camarillo; Michael Millar, an accounting major from Thousand Oaks; Lindsay Murphy, a political science major from Coto de Caza; Vanessa Orr, a chemistry major from Thousand Oaks; Eric Renn, a multimedia major from Eugene, Oregon; Lisa Rowan, an interdisciplinary studies major from Port Townsend, Washington; Kendall Sauter, an exercise science major from Santa Ynez; Nickole Scholey, a communication major from Thousand Oaks; Wilmott; Lauren Witman, a psychology major from Simi Valley; and Christopher Wolf, a philosophy major from Camarillo.

Upper division students qualify for the society by maintaining a grade point average of at least 3.9 on a 4.0 scale. No more than 5 percent of the students from each graduating class are invited to participate.