Troy University recognized academic excellence and achievement April 21 during the annual University Honors Convocation.

The event was held in the Claudia Crosby Theater on the Troy and recognized students who have earned prestigious awards for outstanding scholarship and service and acknowledged those inducted into honor societies during the last academic year.

Dr. Alvin Diamond, recipient of the University’s Wallace D. Malone, Jr. Distinguished Faculty Award and a professor of Biology, delivered the keynote address, encouraging students continue to strive for success

Dr. Diamond shared a story his mother used to tell him about a farmer, a millstone and a cat. The farmer, Dr. Diamond said, discovered a millstone, an implement used to grind grain, in the creek.

Thinking about what he could get if he sold the millstone and later how much he would make if he used it to grind grain himself, the farmer took the heavy stone back to his home. Tired from transporting the heavy stone, the farmer found a spot on the corner of his porch to leave the stone until he could clean it up and realize some return from it. The resting place for the stone, however, was the spot where the family cat usually liked to nap while enjoying the fresh air. Finding the stone occupying his normal resting place, the cat became angry, pawing, pushing, scratching and biting at the stone each day as it sat there in his normal resting place.

The farmer, Diamond said, became focused on other necessary chores of farm life such as planting and harvesting crops and ignored the stone, always meaning to eventually get it cleaned and used. After much time had passed, one day the farmer discovered that the stone was no longer there and became alarmed, fearing someone had stolen it. Instead, he learned that the cat’s daily scratching, clawing, biting and pushing had worn the stone away.

“The farmer had big ideas, but he never acted on it,” Diamond told the audience. “The cat had one goal in mind, and he stayed focused on it. It seemed insurmountable, but he stayed with it. That is what I want to leave with you today. You know what you want to do more than anybody else, and you know what it takes to get there. You have to stay focused. You have to stay dedicated, and you have to keep after it. You will have setbacks, but don’t let that stop you. If you never start a journey, you will never finish it.”

 During the convocation students were honored for their induction into honor societies, including Alpha Epsilon Delta, Beta Beta Beta, Pi Gamma Mu, Beta Gamma Sigma, Eta Sigma Delta, Chi Sigma Mu, Sigma Tau Delta, Lambda Pi Eta, Kappa Delta Pi, Psi Chi, Phi Epsilon Kappa, Sigma Theta Tau, Iota Tau Alpha, The 87, Order of Omega, Alpha Lambda Delta, Omicron Delta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi.

Individual awards were presented by college.

College of Arts and Sciences

• Department of Mathematics and Statistics Graduate Student Award – Jeremy Mathews
• Dennis Lee Bowden Computer Science Award – Anice K. Thompson
• Dr. Sam Shelton Undergraduate Political Science Award – Sean William Marts
• Scholar’s Award – Mario Robledo
• Leonard Y. Trapp Memorial Award – MyKenzi Lewis

Sorrell College of Business

• Carr School of Accountancy Outstanding Student Award – Emma Weeks
• School of Hospitality, Sport and Tourism Management Outstanding Student Award – Jaci Mesa
• Department of Management, Human Resources Management and Law Outstanding Student Award – Ansley Miller
• Department of Economics, Finance, Risk Management Insurance, Marketing and Entrepreneurship Outstanding Student Award – Olivia Barron
• Outstanding Graduate Student Award – Chandler Farris

College of Communications and Fine Arts

• Bernard E. Williams Award – Emily Mosier
• John M. Long Achievement Award – Michael Steven Olson
• William R. Denison Choral Excellence Award – Victoria Grace Tidwell
• Robert T. Joslin Award of Excellence in Photography – Emily Bumgardner
• David Bye Award for Excellence in Theatre Artistry and Academics – Margaret Ann Scarbrough

College of Education

• Susan Gibson Vance Outstanding Future Educator – Gracie Powell
• Chelsea Rae Huggins Memorial Psi Chi Award for Outstanding Scholarship in Psychology – Noel Moseley
• W.P. Lewis Award Outstanding Junior in Education – Emma Henry
• R.H. Ervin Award Outstanding Senior in Education – Shelby Lawrence
• College of Education Outstanding Student Award – Maddie Giles

College of Health Sciences

• Sigma Theta Tau International Nursing – Jayden Trimm
• Outstanding Human Services Award – Elizabeth N. Bennett
• Outstanding Bachelor of Social Work Student Award – Tra’Nyia Chatman
• Outstanding Undergraduate KHP Student – Mary Ashlyn Shaver
• Outstanding Graduate Student Award – Ti’Geronika Lindsey

Graduate School

• Best Graduate Research Award – Jeremy Mathews

General Awards

• Academic Excellence Award for Sororities – Alpha Gamma Delta
• Academic Excellence Award for Fraternities – FarmHouse
• Clements Award – Jake Springer
• Nolan C. Hatcher Outstanding International Student Award – Tram Ngoc Nguyen
• Outstanding Freshman Award – Alexandria Calhoun
• Phi Kappa Phi Outstanding Junior Award – Emily Hyman
• Phi Kappa Phi Outstanding Senior Award – Adele Crabtree
• Sorrell Award – Abby Grosinske, Jaci Mesa, Janelle Stuempfig
• Teresa Penn Rodgers Excellence in Student Advising Award – Dr. Heather Lewis
• Dr. Robert Kruckeberg Faculty Senate Excellence Award – Janet Gaston
• Ingalls Award for Excellence in Classroom Teaching – Dr. Ronda F. Carter
• Algernon Sydney Sullivan Awards – Maggie Chapman, Derrick Nobles, Juliana Bolivar.

Members of the Honors Convocation Committee were Dr. Lauren Berlingo, Dr. Natalie Bryant, Dr. Linda Kathrine Delinsky, Dr. Joel Frank Hammonds, Dr. Priya Menon, Ms. Mary Catherine Register, Dr. Ventsislav Stamenov, Dr. Hui-Ting Yang, and Dr. Jiling Zhong.

The convocation was followed with a reception on the quad.

Photos from the Convocation are available at: https://troyuniversity.photoshelter.com/galleries/C0000mKM.8knsZz4/G0000N2y039J8o8I/20250421-Honors-Convocation.