College of Engineering Honors the Class of 2009

Having reached the pinnacle of their academic careers at Villanova University, undergraduate and graduate engineering students gathered on Mendel Field on Saturday, May 16, to celebrate their achievements at the 2009 College of Engineering Recognition Ceremony.

Led by a pipe and drum corps, the students, along with faculty and administrators, processed to the tent where family members and friends awaited them. After Rev. Joseph Farrell, OSA, STD, Director of Programming and External Outreach, Office for Mission and Ministry, invoked God’s blessing on those gathered, Kenneth Koncilja EE ’09 delivered the commencement address. In his congratulatory remarks, Dr. Gary A. Gabriele, the Drosdick Endowed Dean of Engineering, reminded students of the valuable lessons they had learned and charged them to “remember that you will always be a Villanova engineer.”

In addition to acknowledging each of the students by name, the College presented medallions to the following distinguished students for their academic performance and demonstrated leadership:

• Myles W. Durkin - the Electrical Engineering Outstanding Student Award
• Morgan A. Kapp - the Robert E. White Chemical Engineering Award
• Jonathan M. Perkins - the Mechanical Engineering Outstanding Student Award
• Jacob A. Sabulsky - the Computer Engineering Outstanding Student Award
• Reza A. Soltan – the College of Engineering Outstanding Graduate Student Award
• Bryan W. Wagner - the Robert D. Lynch Award (given by the Engineering Alumni Society) and the Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Award

Graduate students Sevda Alanya, Ralph Alfano, and Reza Soltan also received certificates from the CEE, ECE, and ME departments, respectively.

Another engineering student was spotlighted at Commencement on May 17. Sherrie-Ann Martin ChE ’09 had been selected from a competitive pool to be the student speaker. In her rousing valediction, Martin invited her classmates to live “a dangerously extraordinary life.”