Elizabethtown College officially kicked off the beginning of the 2023-24 academic year by holding Convocation on Tuesday, Aug. 22 in Leffler Chapel and Performance Center. 

View photos from the ceremony.

The Convocation Ceremony marks the official start to the academic year and includes the presentation of the incoming class to the campus community.  It also serves as an opportunity to celebrate faculty, student, and staff achievements, including faculty members who have been promoted, and/or tenured effective in the 2023-24 academic year.

During the ceremony, members of the College’s leadership addressed the campus community, including President Betty Rider who offered advice to Etown’s largest incoming class since 2009.

“I issue everyone here today a challenge,” Elizabethtown College President Betty Rider said during her Convocation Address. “Embrace both the joy and the uncertainty that lies before you. Treat this day as the new beginning that it is. Believe in your potential. Embrace your value. Take advantage of your opportunities.”

Etown’s remarkable incoming class totaling 580 students, which includes 546 first-year students and 34 new transfer students was celebrated and recognized as a group. Highlights of the class include:

– An average GPA is 3.685
– A total of 112 domestic students of color and international students, representing a 20% increase from the previous class
– Students hailing from 17 states and 10 foreign countries including, Brazil, Ethiopia, Greece, and Mongolia
– 119 students accepted into the Honors Program at Elizabethtown College
– Seven incoming Stamps Scholars (The Stamps Scholarship program recognizes and rewards exceptional students who exemplify leadership, perseverance, scholarship, service, overcoming obstacles, and innovation.)

View the full Fall 2023 Incoming Class Profile

Also recognized at Convocation were newly tenured and promoted faculty effective in the 2023-24 academic year, along with faculty merit award recipients, as well as winners of the Kreider Prize for Teaching Excellence, the Ranck Prize for Research Excellence and the Polanowski Prize for Advising and Mentorship. Staff were also recognized, including winners of the 2022 David C. Beidleman Exemplar Staff Award.

Newly Tenured and Promoted Faculty

  • Jean C. Batista Abreu, Ph.D.,  Tenured and Promoted to Associate Professor of Engineering 
  • Sara A. Atwood, Ph.D., Promoted to Professor of Engineering & Physics 
  • Kathryn A. Caprino, Ph.D., Tenured and Promoted to Associate Professor of Education
  • Elizabeth D. Dalton, Ph.D., Tenured and Promoted to Associate Professor of Psychology 
  • Kevin T. Shorner Johnson, Ph.D., Promoted to Professor of Music 
  • Peilong Li, Ph.D., Tenured and Promoted to Associate Professor of Computer Science
  • Kesha Morant Williams, Ph.D., Promoted to Professor of Humanities and Communications Arts

 

Faculty Merit Award Recipients

 

Scholarship and Professional Activity 

  • Justin A. Badgerow, D.M.A., Professor of Music 
  • David S. Brown, Ph.D., Raffensperger Professor of History 
  • Jeffery D. Long Ph.D., Carl W. Zeigler Professor of Religious Studies 
  • Oya Dursun-Özkanca, Ph.D., Professor of International Studies and Political Science 
  • Michael D. Silberstein, Ph.D., Professor of Philosophy 

 

Service 

  • Kurt DeGoede, Ph.D., Professor of Engineering and Physics
  • E. Douglas Bomberger, Ph.D., Professor of Music
  • Kerri L. Hample, OTD, OTR/L, FMCHC, Associate Professor of Occupational Therapy 
  • Jean E. Pretz, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology 
  • Adam J. Swartzendruber, DHEd, CSCS, NSCA-CPT, TSAC-F,  Exercise Science Program Director and Lecturer 

 

Teaching and Advising 

  • Robert E. Aronson, DrPH, Director of Public Health and Lecturer 
  • Leyla Batakci, Ph.D., Professor of Math
  •  Bryan Greenberg, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Marketing
  •  Brenda L. Read-Daily, Ph.D., PE, Associate Professor of Engineering 
  • Hossein Varamini, Ph.D., Turnbull-Jamieson Professor of Finance and International Business

 

Senior Merit 

  • E. Douglas Bomberger, Ph.D., Professor of Music 
  • Kirsten A. Johnson, Ph.D., Professor of Communications

 

Faculty Prize Winners

2022-2023 Kreider Prize for Teaching Excellence Recipient 

Brenda L. Read-Daily, Ph.D., PE, Associate Professor of Engineering 

2022-2023 Polanowski Prize for Excellence in Faculty-Student Advising and Mentorship Recipient 

Jane F. Cavender, Ph.D., Professor of Biology 

2022-2023 Ranck Prize for Research Excellence Recipient 

James A. MacKay, Ph.D., A.C. Baugher Professor of Chemistry

2022 David C. Beidleman Exemplar Staff Award

  • Barry L. Fritz, Technical Operations Director 
  • Jennifer L. McFadden, Administrative Assistant School of Engineering & Computer Science