Students, faculty, staff, and alumni honored with one of UI’s highest honors

University of Iowa students, faculty, staff, and alumni received some of the institution’s highest honors Tuesday, May 5, at the 98th anniversary of the Finkbine Dinner. Vice President for Student Life Tom Rocklin was emcee, and UI President Sally Mason presented the Hancher-Finkbine Medallions and Distinguished Student Leader Certificates. 

Hancher-Finkbine Medallions recognizing leadership, learning, and loyalty went to students Patrick Bartoski, Ashley Brosius, Allison Kindig, and Kira Pasquesi; physics and astronomy faculty Robert Mutel; College of Dentistry staff member Elaine Brown; and alumnus and former UI College of Law Dean Carolyn Jones.

Justin David Anderson, Joelle Brown, Janet Lawler, Miriam Murray, Courtney Paulsen, and Jennifer Svendsen received Distinguished Student Leader certificates. The Philip G. Hubbard Human Rights Awards (which include a $1,500 award) went to Julia Julstrom-Agoyo and Fidencio Martinez Perez.

Elaine Boosalis and Michael Vinyard received the Robert F. Ray Faculty Representative Award, which honors outstanding student-athletes and gives $1,000 grants to recipients entering graduate or professional school at the UI.

Ana M. Rodriguez-Rodriguez received the M.L. Huit Faculty Award, and Stella Burch Elias received the James N. Murray Faculty Award.

In 1917, William Finkbine and Carl Kuhnle hosted the first awards dinner for UI men. In 1921, Finkbine’s daughter Dorothy Finkbine Sauers and her aunts introduced a similar dinner for women. The events were combined in 1972, and to this day are supported by an endowment established by W. Finkbine, as well as other alumni, friends, and the UI Foundation.

Read on to learn more about this year’s honorees:

Justin David Anderson 
Graduate/Professional Distinguished Student Leader Certificate

Justin David Anderson, from Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, is a fourth-year student in the College of Dentistry. Anderson has distinguished himself in both academic and clinically based courses and has received many awards and scholarships within his field including, the Dr. William S. Kramer Award for Excellence and the American Dental Association Foundation Scholarship.

Anderson was chosen by faculty as one of eight students in the college to provide instruction and assistance to first and second year students in preclinical technical skills courses. He was selected for a competitive oral surgery externship in which he gained additional knowledge about surgical procedures and assisted on-call residents in the treatment of after-hours emergencies.

Anderson has been an active and contributing member in the Dental Public Health Club and the local chapter of the Hispanic Dental Association (HDA). As the education coordinator for the HDA, he coordinated Spanish language lessons for the organizations and helped organize the first “Brush and Rush” 5K; this 5K raised money to benefit a patient fund which finances dental treatment for patients who are unable to pay for required dental procedures.

Patrick Bartoski 
Hancher-Finkbine Undergraduate Student Medallion

Patrick Bartoski is a junior finance major from Trout Valley, Illinois. As the 2014-15 president of the UI Student Government (UISG), Bartoski served as a representative and role model for over 20,000 undergraduate students. As president, he reformed the student organization financing process to allow for more transparency and accountability. Bartoski also acted as an advocate for undergraduate students and provided the student voice while serving on the shared governance advisory panel of the efficiency study, leading road trips to meet with state legislators about the tuition freeze, and serving on the presidential search committee.

He was chosen by the Association of Big Ten Students to serve on a working group that recently submitted the Big Ten’s response to President Obama’s collegiate rating system. He has also advised numerous other student governments across the Big Ten on campaigns related to sexual misconduct awareness as a result of his work with the It’s On Us campaign.

Bartoski is currently a member of the UI Honors program, and was selected for the highly competitive merger and acquisitions internship program at Walgreen’s corporate headquarters.

Elaine Boosalis 
Ray Faculty Representative Award

Elaine Boosalis is a senior majoring in human physiology from Maple Grove, Minnesota.

As a member of the UI Women’s Swimming and Diving team, she competed in backstroke, butterfly, and relay events. In 2011-12 she swam collegiate best times in the 200 butterfly (2:04.91) and 400 individual medley (4:25.45) at the Big Ten Championships. In 2013-14, she recorded 14 top-10 times, including a victory in the 500-free against Western Illinois. Boosalis has posted times that rank eighth in the 400-individual medley and 200 backstroke and ninth in the 200-individual medley in Iowa history.

Boosalis has been named twice as an Academic All-Big Ten and Big Ten Distinguished Scholar and is a three-time letter winner. She also served as team co-captain during the 2012-13 season.

Ashley D. Brosius 
Hancher-Finkbine Graduate/Professional Student Medallion

Ashley D. Brosius from Moline, Illinois, is a third-year student in the UI College of Law and has taken on many leadership roles during her time at the UI. Currently executive editor of the Iowa Law Review, she serves as the business manager and collaborates with other staff on decisions regarding the journal.

Brosius has also served as a class representative to the Iowa Student Bar Association (ISBA); through the ISBA she chaired the philanthropy committee and coordinated the student-led pro bono recognition program. As the president of the Latino Law Student Association, Brosius engaged in fundraising and logistical organization to support the Alternative Spring Break trip. In addition, she was the vice president of the Organization of Women Law Students and Staff where she oversaw a mentoring program for entering law students. 

In the community, Brosius volunteered 10-12 hours a week with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Cedar Rapids doing research and drafting briefs, and is a member of the Pro Bono Society, having volunteered 370 hours while in law school. The Iowa Law Review published her article calling for courts to change the manner in which self-defense claimed by survivors of domestic violence is evaluated.

Elaine Brown 
Hancher-Finkbine Staff Medallion

Elaine Brown has been employed at the UI College of Dentistry for more than 40 years and currently serves as the director of admissions. For the past 20 years, Brown has represented the College of Dentistry to prospective students, parents, pre-health advisors, and other constituents as the face of admissions. She leads a highly selective admissions process that yields an exceptional class of dental students that go on to serve the state of Iowa as caring practitioners.

Brown holds a national leadership position on the Associated American Dental Schools Application Service Task Force and serves as one of a handful of admissions officers across the country guiding admissions policy and process for all dental applicants. In the College of Dentistry, she has assumed leadership roles that advance specific initiatives, promote the mission of the college, and support students, faculty, and staff.

For the past 13 years, Brown has provided direction and programming for the Pre-dental Club student organization, and she was elected to Omicron Kappa Upsilon, the National Honorary Dental Society, for her contributions to the advancement of dentistry.

Joelle Marie Brown 
Undergraduate Distinguished Student Leader Certificate

Joelle Marie Brown is a senior double majoring in journalism and mass communication and political science from Sheldon, Iowa. Brown is the recipient of numerous merit-based scholarships, including the UI Old Gold Scholarship, and has excelled in her double major earning additional scholarships from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, as well as the Political Science and Journalism and Mass Communication departments.

Brown has been a UISG senator and served as governmental relations liaison. In this role, she led a campus-wide thank you campaign for legislators after working tirelessly to secure an in-state tuition freeze. She also has served as the president of the Hawkeye Caucus student organization for two years, where she organized and led Hawkeye Caucus Day, a legislative trip of more than 100 UI students to the Iowa State Capitol to advocate on behalf of the university.

While serving as a member of the International Student Climate Committee, Brown also helped to evaluate international student experiences on campus. She was instrumental in establishing the new International Student Advisory Board to provide insight into the needs of international students, and she created the International Student Welcome Night to bring together international students and domestic students.

Stella Burch Elias 
James N. Murray Faculty Award

Stella Burch Elias is an associate professor in the UI College of Law. Elias received her J.D. from Yale Law School in 2009, and both her M.A. (2006) and B.A. (1998) from the University of Oxford. She joined the College of Law in 2012, and her compassion for students comes through in her creative teaching strategies and in the amount of time she dedicates to students both inside and outside the classroom.

Elias works to create a welcoming and supportive climate for students, often taking the first step to build relationships with students in her courses. Her instructional effectiveness is a result of her ability to create educational opportunities for students of all learning styles. In her civil procedure course and immigration course, Elias has integrated simulations to support students in integrating and applying their learning.

She is a leading scholar on immigration law, and has pioneered an institutional advocacy course at the College of Law that bridges theory and practice for students.

Carolyn C. Jones 
Hancher-Finkbine Alumni Medallion

Carolyn C. Jones, F. Wendell Miller Professor and Dean Emerita of the College of Law, received her B.A. in English in 1976 and her J.D. in 1979 from the UI. She also completed course work at Iowa for an M.A. in English and received her LL.M. degree from Yale in 1982.

Jones is a Carroll, Iowa, native and is intensely loyal to the state of Iowa and to her alma mater. As an undergraduate, she served as president of the UI Student Association Senate. As the first female dean of the UI College of Law, Jones contributed substantially as a leader. Her leadership style encouraged and supported change from within the organization, and examples of what she helped the law school accomplish include: the creation of the Legal Analysis, Writing, and Research program, a major transformation of the first-year curriculum, and a dramatic expansion of externships for law students. Her tenure as dean spanned the economic recession of 2008, and she devoted thousands of hours to traveling to raise funds for the College.

Jones’ scholarship brings feminist and historical perspectives to the technical subject of tax law, and her passion for the subject is transferred to her students.

Julia Julstrom-Agoyo
Philip G. Hubbard Undergraduate Human Rights Award

Julia Julstrom-Agoyo, from Chicago, Illinois, is a senior majoring in international studies (human rights). She has been involved in efforts to protect and promote human rights since her first year at the UI.

This past year, Julstrom-Agoyo has served as an intern with the UI Center for the Human Rights.  She led a project to organize a “community dinner,” pairing student organization leaders with leading human service and human rights non-profit organizations in our community to raise awareness about the need for human rights education and to build common cause to pursue this endeavor across diverse constituencies. More than 300 individuals attended this event and a series of dialogue groups emerged to continue organizational efforts across the community.

Julstrom-Agoyo also actively assisted with a multi-year project to identify and interview refugees in the state of Iowa who wished to share their stories of resettlement for potential publication. She was also instrumental in establishing the Human Rights Student Collective, an umbrella student organization for diverse student groups working on human rights issues.

Allison Marie Kindig 
Hancher-Finkbine Undergraduate Student Medallion

Allison Marie Kindig is a senior majoring in industrial engineering and minoring in business administration from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. As the top-ranked student in the UI College of Engineering, Kindig is a committed and motivated student. She has studied abroad extensively during her time at Iowa including experiences in India (freshman year) and England (junior year) as well as conducting multidisciplinary research in Cameroon her sophomore year and again in India her senior year. Her leadership skills served her well in Cameroon, where she led a research mission to demonstrate solar cookers in remote villages, in an effort to reduce deforestation in the Aravalli Range.

For the past four years, Kindig has worked with the Honors Living Learning Community as a resident assistant and has mentored nearly 250 students during their time in Daum Hall. She has represented the College of Engineering as a Student Ambassador, served as Conference Chair of the Society of Women Engineers, and served as the Vice President of the Tau Beta Pi engineering honor society.

Kindig was selected 2014 UI Homecoming Queen, and has participated as an undergraduate researcher since 2012.

Janet Marie Lawler 
Undergraduate Distinguished Student Leader Certificate

Janet Marie Lawler, from Northwood, Iowa, is a senior triple majoring in political science, journalism, and classics. Lawler is a member of University Honors Program and has conducted research with professors in the UI Department of Political Science and the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, in each case applying cross-disciplinary technique and theory.

She has received many scholarships, including: the E. Jack and Ailene Liechty Scholarship (awarded to women journalists with high academic performance), the Molly and Joseph Gaylord Scholarship for Journalism, the Phil Currie Scholarship for Photojournalism, and the 2013 UI Foundation Political Science Development Fund Scholarship.

Lawler was co-president of the Iowa chapter of Eta Sigma Phi, the classics honor society, and continues to support the group. She currently serves as a Latin tutor. This past year, Lawler also served in an executive leadership role in the UISG as communication specialist. In this role, she spearheaded, organized, and directed many of UISG’s community and outreach events from planning smaller events such as “Managing your Midterms,” to managing outreach on highly salient issues such as policing, sexual assault, and racial discrimination on campus. Lawler has also served on other committees to improve the student experience including the Campus Education Subcommittee and the University Libraries Presidential Charter Committee.

Fidencio Martinez Perez 
Philip G. Hubbard Graduate/Professional Human Rights Award

Fidencio Martinez Perez, from Wilmington, North Carolina, is working toward his MFA in painting and drawing in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Perez has been involved with the Center for Worker Justice since fall of 2013, helping workers and former workers collect wages that have been withheld due to illegal practices by a number of local businesses. This past year, Perez helped undocumented workers who had been fired after they complained about their wages being held and, at times, stolen by management, and he worked with the center on a larger case, helping a young working mother who was owed back pay.

In December 2014, Perez was nominated to and now currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Center for Worker Justice. He has also been active on a large campaign to get community ID’s for Iowa City and neighboring communities by outreaching to representatives in the community — most recently the mayor of North Liberty.

Perez also created, with two others, a project called Invisible Faces: Identity Portraits. This project, broken into three parts, photography, printmaking, and sculpture/installations, provides participants an opportunity to reflect on immigration, talk about issues that matter, and learn about art.

Miriam Esther Murray 
Graduate/Professional Distinguished Student Leader Certificate

Miriam Esther Murray is a fourth-year medical student in the UI Carver College of Medicine, from Iowa City, Iowa. She chose the college’s research distinction track, which requires students to participate in mentored investigative projects over the entire course of their medical school years. Murray’s research experiences included two separate summer research fellowships, one in psychiatry and the other in obstetrics and gynecology. She earned the Borts Award, a first-place honor among more than 100 medical student research presentations at the 2012 Carver College of Medicine Research Day.

Since May 2014, Murray has served as president of the college’s medical student government, acting as the liaison between the college’s student body and administration, and serving as an ambassador for UI medical students across campus. She served as the vice president for internal affairs for the Medical Student Ambassadors Program, which provides tours and other assistance during applicant interviews and orientation and delivers educational outreach programs to young students in area community schools.

Murray has also tutored medical students in Principles of Medical Immunology, and has mentored first and second year students through the Peer Mentoring program and Clinical Shadowing program.

Robert Mutel 
Hancher-Finkbine Faculty Medallion

Robert Mutel, UI physics and astronomy professor, received his Ph.D. in astrophysics from the University of Colorado in 1975 and his A.B. in physics from Cornell University in 1968.

In his 40 years of teaching at the UI, Mutel has inspired generations of students. He continues to seek out effective teaching techniques and implement them in the classroom at all levels. His hands-on teaching style encourages all students to be curious learners, work together in teams effectively, and ask questions. One of Mutel’s major contributions to student learning has been the development of student-run observing facilities at a high-altitude, dark observing site in Arizona and on Van Allen Hall.

Mutel has won a series of teaching and service awards during his time at the UI including: Collegiate Teaching Award, Award for Teaching Innovation, and recently the Philip Hubbard Award for Outstanding Education.

Mutel has also been a leader in his professional field for decades, and he pioneered long-baseline radio interferometric observations in the U.S. He has participated in many professional service activities, including advising the National Science Foundation on student-oriented research programs and serving as a referee for journal articles for the main journals in the field of astronomical and space physics.

Courtney Leigh Paulsen 
Undergraduate Distinguished Student Leader Certificate

Courtney Leigh Paulsen, from Lakeville, Minnesota, is a senior double major in industrial engineering and dance with a minor in business administration.

Last fall, Paulsen was selected to represent dance on an advisory committee to form the NEXUS of Engineering and Art at the UI. She has played a formative role in this exciting initiative, which will create new collaborations among engineering and art students. She has also participated in the local chapter of the Institute of Industrial Engineers, serving as president as a sophomore and as the executive director of the board for two years. During her presidency, she led many initiatives focused on gaining new members and providing more opportunities for students. As the executive director of the board, Paulsen led a long term planning process to strengthen and clarify goals for the organization and collaborated with the Engineering Student Council to create a new Engineering Week Olympics event.

Paulsen has also served as an engineering peer advisor, an engineering student ambassador, a leader and a captain for On Iowa!, and the vice president of the undergraduate dance organization.

Kira L. Pasquesi 
Hancher-Finkbine Graduate/Professional Student Medallion

Kira L. Pasquesi is a fourth-year doctoral student in the Higher Education and Student Affairs (HESA) program in the College of Education from Darien, Illinois.

Pasquesi is a leader both inside and outside the classroom. She has eight publications, five of which are peer-reviewed articles published in top journals within the field of higher education, and she has served as a teaching assistant for two undergraduate courses, three master’s level courses, and two doctoral seminars. Her dedication to her values is evident through both her research and scholarly activities, and her research interests include the discourse of diversity and inclusion in community engagement and multicultural service learning. 

She is a former co-chair of the Report Committee for the Coalition for Racial Justice in Iowa City, and has committed to working with various campus-wide initiatives and committees, such as the President’s Student Advisory Committee on Sexual Misconduct. As vice president of the advisory committee, Pasquesi has developed relationships with a multitude of campus offices and community organizations through sub-committees and collaborative projects, such as the It’s On Us campaign.

Ana M. Rodriguez-Rodriguez 
M.L. Huit Faculty Award

Ana M. Rodriguez-Rodriguez is an associate professor in the UI Department of Spanish and Portuguese. In 2007, she received her Ph.D. in Spanish literature from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her A.B.D. in early modern Spanish literature from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and expects to complete her Ph.D. next fall. She also received her M.A. in Hispanic literatures from the University of Colorado-Boulder in 1997, and her B.A. in Hispanic philology from the Universidad de Santiago de Compostela in 1995.

Rodriguez-Rodriguez joined the Department of Spanish and Portuguese in 2008 and is known for being a thoughtful and caring professor, fostering deep discussions, and recognizing the contributions of students. Her caring, focused, and conscientious attitude makes her a sought after student advisor, master’s committee examiner, and Ph.D. dissertation director.

She is an expert in the area of Spanish Golden Age Literature and is currently working on a book that will bring to life an unstudied area in the field of Spanish literature. Rodriguez-Rodriguez represents the university as a committee member of the Modern Language Association’s Division of Golden Age Poetry and Prose, and received a Career Development Award this spring.

Jennifer Svendsen 
Graduate/Professional Distinguished Student Leader Certificate

Jennifer Svendsen, from Bettendorf, Iowa, is a fourth-year medical student in the Carver College of Medicine.

Svendsen has maintained high academic standards throughout her medical education and has received honors in multiple courses and clerkships. She was elected co-vice president of the Family Medicine Interest Group (FMIG) as a second year medical student and co-president her third year. In her role as co-president, she managed leadership team meetings, orchestrated the operation of 50 events, and pioneered the networking event, “Speed Dating Careers in Family Medicine,” which was very successful and continues today. During her presidency, FMIG was a Program of Excellence award winner from the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), and in fall 2014 Jennifer was the AAFP National Conference Scholarship recipient for Family Medicine Interest Group Leadership.

Svendsen has also served as co-president for Healthy Today for a Healthier Tomorrow Nutrition Program, medical education chair for the American Medical Student Association interest group, clinical skills facilitator for the Foundations of Clinical Practice course, facilitator for M3 orientation, and student representative for the Medical Student Ambassador Program. She also served on two medical mission trips to Belize and Costa Rica/Nicaragua.

Michael Vinyard 
Ray Faculty Representative Award

Michael Vinyard is a junior majoring in chemistry from Carmel, Indiana.

As a member of the UI Men’s Swimming and Diving team, Vinyard competed in butterfly and individual medley. At Iowa, he posted several collegiate best times. In the 2013-14 season he swam his collegiate-best times in the 100-butterfly (51.99) at the Hawkeye Invitational and in the 1,000-free (10.21.70) at the Intrasquad meet. In the 2012-2013 season, he also posted a pair of top-five finishes.

A recipient of the Nile Kinnick Memorial Scholarship, Vinyard is a two-time Academic All-Big Ten and Big Ten Distinguished Scholar, has lettered for the past three years, and is a 2015 NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship nominee. He also served as a co-captain of the team during the 2012-2013 season, and he qualified for the 2012 Olympic Trials.