Honors Takes Top Honors

Kap Paull with Provost Mark Byrnes

Winton Cooper

College standouts collect campus and state awards

Dean John R. Vile and Dara Zwemer

Each year four outstanding MTSU students are selected to receive campus awards, and this year all four are Honors students. In addition, one of the four also received a state award.

Best friends Winton Cooper and Kap Paull claimed the President’s Award and the Provost’s Award, respectively. Cooper, the 2021–22 Student Government Association (SGA) president and an Environmental Science major, received the President’s Award for “exemplary character and achievements in scholarship, leadership, and service” from MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee at the annual SGA awards. Paull, majoring in Allied Health Science, received the Provost’s Award for “outstanding academic achievement through scholarly activity” from Provost Mark Byrnes during the College of Basic and Applied Sciences awards program.

Two students from the College of Behavioral and Health Sciences, Dara Zwemer and Cynthia Torres, won two other campuswide awards at the SGA ceremony. Zwemer, a Buchanan Fellow and Psychology major, garnered the Robert C. LaLance Jr. Award in recognition of her determination, sacrifices, and contribution to the community. Torres, an Honors Transfer Fellow and Psychology major, was recognized with the Community Service Award for her achievements and contributions to MTSU and the community (see related article on page 22).

Cynthia Torres

Torres, who has organized and facilitated various support groups to benefit those touched by addiction, infidelity, and trauma, was also awarded a Harold Love Outstanding Community Service Award and accompanying $1,000 cash prize in the spring. The statewide awards, created to recognize higher education students and faculty/staff, are named for the late state representative who was known for his compassion and good humor.