Vanderbilt University honors top scholars during commencement

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt University’s top scholars in nine undergraduate and professional schools received Founder’s Medals during commencement exercises Friday, May 12.

Chancellor Joe B. Wyatt presented the Founder’s Medals for first honors in each graduating class to the following students:

Brian James Miller of Newark, Ohio, Founder’s Medalist in the College of Arts and Science, graduated summa cum laude with a major in mathematics and a minor in music. He has been a College Scholar, one of the highest honors for a student, and he has served as a teaching assistant in the department of math. Last summer he received a fellowship from the National Science Foundation to study mathematical biology at Penn State. His research project focused on mathematical models of the effects of chemotherapy.

Miller will attend Ohio State University School of Medicine in the fall, where he will study to become a surgeon specializing in cancer. He is also one of 10 entering students to receive a Cancer Research Summer Internship at Ohio State’s Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Amy Lynn Forburger of Des Moines, Iowa, Founder’s Medalist for the Blair School of Music, graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor of music in voice. A high school valedictorian, she won first place in the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Iowa State High School Vocal Competition. Forburger transferred to Vanderbilt from Drake University.

While at Vanderbilt, she has received the Blair School's Robin Dickerson Award, presented to a voice major for excellence in performance and scholarship; the David Rabin Prize, awarded for excellence in musical performance; and has been elected to Pi Kappa Lambda, the national music honor society. She won the Vanderbilt Concerto Competition last year. Forburger also won first prize in the NATS Regional Collegiate Competition in voice every year while at Vanderbilt, and she was the first runner-up in the national collegiate competition in voice this year.

Forburger will attend the Manhattan School of Music for a master's in vocal performance.

Charles Young Thomason IV, of Marietta, Ga., Founder’s Medalist in the School of Engineering, graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor of engineering in computer engineering. He is also working on a master of science in electrical and computer engineering and has completed 21 of the 24 credit hours required.

Thomason is a member of the Baptist Student Union, the Gamma Beta Phi Society, Conversation Partners, the V² Engineering Orientation Program, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). He also served on the V² program board and the Engineering Council. Thomason has completed internships at Datastream Systems and at Lockheed Martin Aeronautical Systems, where he helped develop software for the mission computer of the C-27J Spartan tactical airlifter. This summer he will work as a research assistant at the Institute for Software Integrated Systems (ISIS), and he will start on his master’s thesis.

Steven Craig DeCaluwe, of Chicago, Ill., Founder’s Medalist in Peabody College, graduated summa cum laude with a double major in elementary education and mathematics. He has worked on Habitat for Humanity and Vanderbilt Student Volunteers for Science, which sends student teachers into Nashville public schools to talk about science.

He also has been a disk jockey on WRVU radio and a student instructor for rock climbing, caving, white water paddling and other general wilderness skills.

DeCaluwe’s student teaching assignment was at Park Avenue Elementary in Nashville. He plans to become an elementary school teacher.

Anne Gingerich Brenneman, of Harrisonburg, Va., Founder’s Medalist in the School of Nursing, received the master of science in nursing with a specialty as a pediatric nurse practitioner. She earlier received a bachelor of arts in biology from Eastern Mennonite University and a bachelor of science in nursing from The Johns Hopkins University. As an undergraduate, she earned the President Scholarship Award based on academic achievement and extracurricular activities, and she was on the dean’s list while at Johns Hopkins.

Brenneman is a member of Sigma Theta Tau. Last year she was part of a medical team that went to Honduras to open a walk-in clinic for hurricane victims. She also has worked as a research assistant on a project that examined the use of music in chemotherapy.

Brenneman is currently a certified pediatric nurse practitioner in Kalamazoo, Mich.

Halley O. Willison, of Standish, Maine, Founder’s Medalist in the Owen Graduate School of Management, received the master of business administration. He graduated from Duke University in 1992 with an engineering degree. Willison then served four years with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers before enrolling in the Owen School.

He is the recipient of the Bruce D. Henderson Merit Prize, which goes to the rising second-year student who exhibits brilliance, originality of thought, thoroughness of investigation and academic excellence. Willison worked at Deloitte Consulting last summer as part of the internship program at the Owen School. This fall he will be working full time for Deloitte Consulting in Boston.

Matthew Devin Drever, of Simi Valley, Calif., Founder’s Medalist in the Divinity School, received the master of theological studies. He received his bachelor of arts magna cum laude from Sonoma State University in California, with a double major in philosophy and history.

While at Vanderbilt, Drever received the Brandon scholarship, which is given to the most outstanding entering students. He has been on the dean's list each semester. During the last academic year, Drever was chair of the Honor Council at the Divinity School. He received the Wilbur F. Tillett Prize, which goes to a graduating senior for outstanding achievement in theology.

In the fall Drever will enter the Ph.D. program in systematic and philosophical theology at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, Calif.

R. Adam Newton, of Indianapolis, Ind., Founder’s Medalist in the Law School, received the Juris Doctor degree. He received a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University where he obtained the highest distinction in journalism and history. He was a graphic designer and film critic for the student newspaper.

While at the Vanderbilt Law School, Newton had the highest grades in more than 10 courses and helped found a student-edited journal, the Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment Law and Practice. He helped the Law School and the First Amendment Center create a new course aimed at teaching law students about the law and ethics when working with the media on high-profile cases.

He also received the Archie B. Martin Prize and the Robert F. Jackson Prize for scholastic achievement. Following graduation, Newton will serve as judicial clerk to U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Gilbert Merritt in Nashville.

Eileen Hoff Dauer, of Ada, Minn., Founder’s Medalist in the School of Medicine, received the doctor of medicine degree. Dauer graduated from Brown University in 1994, where she earned a bachelor of arts in biomedical ethics and the biomedical ethics honors prize. She also spent her junior year at the University of Minnesota.

After spending two years at a health care consulting firm in Omaha, Neb. Dauer enrolled in Vanderbilt Medical School, where she participated in the U.S. Air Force Health Professions Scholarship Program. She currently serves as a lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force Medical Corps.

She has earned perfect grades in all her courses. Dauer was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha and the Microbes and Defense Microbiology Honor Society. She also has served as co-chair of National Primary Care Week, vice president of her class and was a member of “Biorhythms,” an all female a cappella group. Her research activity included working in the departments of cardiology and otolaryngology.

After graduation, she will enter a residency program in otolaryngology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. Following her residency, she will serve as a physician in the Air Force.

Vanderbilt’s first honors awards are called Founder’s Medals because the first were made possible by an endowment from Cornelius Vanderbilt, founder of the University.

Contact: Emily Pearce, (615) 322-NEWS
emily.pearce@vanderbilt.edu

-VU-