Students Voice Displeasure Over Dean's List Ceremony
Dean Grow Considers Event 'Success'
Leticia Wiley
Issue date: 5/5/07 Section: News
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Whether it's the Academy Awards, the Oscars, or simply the Dean's List Awards, receiving an award is always an honor. The Dean's List award is not only prestigious, but it is "used by all colleges world wide," said Dr. Ann Grow, Dean for Undergraduate Studies. Grow organized the first Dean's List Awards Ceremony in four years for all of the campuses combined, along with the help of her secretary and many others.
The awards ceremony was held on Oct. 23 in the Rotunda, located in Mercy Hall at the Dobbs Ferry Campus. Yet some students who attended the awards ceremony left feeling less than "honored". When asked which part of the ceremony they didn't like, students were torn between the beginning, middle and end.
The excitement of receiving the award in front of family and friends was soon cut short. When students first arrived, they received their awards that were on a long table, and were asked to write their first and last name on an index card before going up to the awards ceremony.
"My first thought was what could possibly come after this? I received my award already. I could've just gone home," said Maria Soledad Escalante, TV Production major.
To be on the Dean's List at Mercy, one must be a full-time undergraduate student, maintaining a minimum of 12 credits with a GPA of 3.75. Students felt that this difficult work was not acknowledged at the ceremony, especially by the speakers.
The speakers for the afternoon focused on one main theme, the graduate programs offered at Mercy College. Each program offering a master's degree had a representative from that program present.
"The good part about the speeches was that they were short," said student Karolynn Tryanham, Business Management major. The speeches were titled, "Imagine Me at Mercy Grad School".
"I felt there was a lack of interest in the students who were receiving the award," Escalante added.
Grow defended the speakers: "I wouldn't want to sit through seven speakers talking about the Dean's List Award; that would be very boring to me. And in fact, two or three of the speakers congratulated the students on receiving their award."
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