{"id":22254,"date":"2026-08-21T16:30:36","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T20:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/?p=22254"},"modified":"2026-08-21T17:12:04","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T21:12:04","slug":"elizabethtown-college-marks-the-start-of-the-2026-27-academic-year-at-convocation-ceremony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/2026\/08\/21\/elizabethtown-college-marks-the-start-of-the-2026-27-academic-year-at-convocation-ceremony\/","title":{"rendered":"Elizabethtown College Marks the Start of the 2026-27 Academic Year at Convocation Ceremony"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Elizabethtown College officially opened the 2026-27 academic year at its Convocation ceremony on Friday, Aug. 21, at the Bowers Center for Sports, Fitness, &amp; Well-Being.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">One of Etown&#8217;s most cherished traditions, marking the official start of the academic year, Convocation serves as an opportunity to welcome the College\u2019s incoming students and celebrate faculty achievements. The ceremony included a candle lighting, a litany of light, and remarks from President Betty Rider and members of the College community.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><a href=\"https:\/\/flic.kr\/s\/aHBqjD2VeQ\">View photos from the ceremony<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">During the ceremony, President Rider offered a warm welcome and encouraged the group of 560 incoming first-year and transfer students to take advantage of their Etown journey by building relationships and preparing for a meaningful life of purpose.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>\u201cOver the next several years, you\u2019ll discover passions, refine goals, and strengthen your character,\u201d Rider said. \u201cWhen you graduate, I hope you\u2019ll know you\u2019ve found your people and take pride in your path.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">For the third straight year, the College set a record with 4,585 applications submitted.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Etown\u2019s impressive class of new Blue Jays was celebrated and honored as a group. Highlights of the class include:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">An average first-year student GPA of 3.74\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Students hailing from 13 U.S. states and four foreign countries<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">126 students accepted into the Honors Program at Elizabethtown College<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Eight incoming Stamps Scholars (The Stamps Scholarship program recognizes and rewards exceptional students who exemplify leadership, perseverance, scholarship, service, overcoming obstacles, and innovation)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.etown.edu\/admissions\/incoming-class.aspx?utm_source=ig&amp;utm_medium=social\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">View the complete Fall 2026 Incoming Class Profile.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Also recognized at Convocation were newly promoted faculty effective in the 2026-27 academic year, as well as winners of the Kreider Prize for Teaching Excellence, the Polanowski Prize for Excellence in Faculty-Student Advising and Mentorship, the Ranck Prize for Research Excellence, and the Schmidt Prize for Excellence in Student-Faculty Service.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Newly Promoted Faculty<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Patrick S. Allen, Ph.D. Promoted to Associate Professor of English Literature and Tenured\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Wendy L. Bellew \u201995, M.Ed. Promoted to Associate Teaching Professor of Education and Program Director\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Laura B. Cunningham \u201907, M.S.\u201908, OTD\u201924, OTR\/L, CCTP Promoted to Associate Teaching Professor of Occupational Therapy\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Diane M. Martin, OTD, OTR\/L Promoted to Associate Teaching Professor of Occupational Therapy\u00a0 and Capstone Coordinator for Doctoral Program\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Terrie L. Riportella, CPA Promoted to Edgar T. Bitting Chair of Accounting and Associate Teaching Professor\u00a0 and Director of the Accounting Program\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dionna C. Rookey, M.S., MSPAS, PA-C Promoted to Associate Teaching Professor of Physician Assistant Program and Program Director\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jingwen \u201cJessica\u201d Wang, Ph.D. Promoted to Associate Professor of Computer Science and Tenured<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Faculty Prize Winners<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>2025-2026 Kreider Prize for Teaching Excellence Recipient\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Leyla Batakci, Ph.D. Professor of Mathematics\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>2025-2026 Polanowski Prize for Excellence in Faculty-Student Advising and Mentorship Recipient\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Oya Dursun-\u00d6zkanca, Ph.D. Professor of Political Science (College Professor of International Studies Endowed Chair) and Director of the Honors Program\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>2025-2026 Ranck Prize for Research Excellence Recipient\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Kirsten A. Johnson, Ph.D. Professor of Communications\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>2025-2026 Schmidt Prize for Excellence in Student-Faculty Service Recipient\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Wendy L. Bellew \u201995, M.Ed. Assistant Teaching Professor of Education &amp; Program Chair<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Elizabethtown College officially opened the 2026-27 academic year at its Convocation ceremony on Friday, Aug. 21, at the Bowers Center for Sports, Fitness, &amp; Well-Being.\u00a0 One of Etown&#8217;s most cherished traditions, marking the official start of the academic year, Convocation serves as an opportunity to welcome the College\u2019s incoming students and celebrate faculty achievements. The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":140,"featured_media":22256,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1338,775],"tags":[2546,1229,197,1350],"class_list":["post-22254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics-and-research","category-campus","tag-class-of-2030","tag-convocation","tag-elizabethtown-college","tag-etown","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/140"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22254"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22257,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22254\/revisions\/22257"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}