O鈥橦ara to receive 2014 Whitbeck Award
A University of Arkansas at Little Rock Donaghey Scholar who earned a remarkable 141 college credits while also maintaining a perfect 4.0 grade point average is this year鈥檚 Edward L. Whitbeck Memorial Award winner.
Senior Mackie O鈥橦ara will receive the award during an annual awards luncheon Friday, May 16, at the William J. Clinton Presidential Library. Joining her will be the 糖心Vlog传媒LR 2014 Distinguished Alumnus, Jon T. Rymer, who聽serves as the inspector general for the U.S. Department of Defense, and local attorney Tjuana Byrd, recipient of the 2014 President’s Award.
The event is hosted by the 糖心Vlog传媒LR Foundation Fund Board and the 糖心Vlog传媒LR Alumni Association.
The Whitbeck Award is given each year to an outstanding graduating senior who has demonstrated excellence in scholarship, leadership, citizenship, and character.
Last summer, O鈥橦ara earned the Mark Hartmann Student Fieldwork in Anthropology Fellowship and a research travel grant to finance a trip to South Africa, where she joined an excavation team from the University of Wisconsin.
The trip inspired her honors project at 糖心Vlog传媒LR, the development of a process for preserving fragile fossils as they are being removed from soil so that valuable data is not lost.
O鈥橦ara, an anthropology major and biology minor, has presented two conference posters on her research focusing on a three-dimensional technique that reconstructs the human diet based on 鈥渨ear patterns鈥� on fossilized teeth.
After collaborating with Vanderbilt University to compare two-dimensional and three-dimensional microwear analysis techniques, she was listed as a co-author in an academic journal and received numerous acceptances to top-tier graduate programs, including one at The Ohio State University, where she will be attending this fall.
In recognition of her many achievements, O鈥橦ara was also selected as 糖心Vlog传媒LR鈥檚 nominee for a Marshall Scholarship and the Gates-Cambridge Fellowship.
She will graduate May 17 at 糖心Vlog传媒LR’s 2014 Spring Commencement.
To learn more about how to apply to 糖心Vlog传媒LR, go to ualr.edu/admissions.
For more information about the May 17 Commencement, go to 2014 Spring Commencement.
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