College of Health Sciences student, Mervan Newbold, has been named one of five winners of the 2014 Wallace G. Kay Writing Award by the Boise State chapter of Phi Kappa Phi. Newbold wrote “Healthcare in the United States: Right, Privilege or Responsibility?” for HLTHST 202: Health Delivery Systems, taught by Ed Baker, professor in the Department of Community and Environmental Health and director of the Center for Health Policy. The annual contest recognizes outstanding undergraduate papers. Each winner will receive a $200 award.
Papers written for Boise State classes during the spring, summer or fall semesters of 2013 were eligible for the 2014 award. Each student who submitted a paper had to receive a nomination from the faculty member for whom he or she wrote the paper.
Faculty evaluators within four colleges judged submissions on content, organization and flow, originality, and creativity, and also considered grammar, spelling and readability. Evaluators selected one winner per college; there was a tie in the College of Business and Economics. The College of Education and the College of Engineering received no entries.
“Phi Kappa Phi is dedicated to promoting superior scholarship, and the Boise State chapter commends these students for their exemplary work,” said Russell Willerton, chapter president and associate professor of technical communication. “It is exciting to see students across many disciplines produce outstanding written work.”
“We are grateful for the financial support from the Office of the Provost that helps us recognize outstanding writers every year,” Willerton added.
Student winners will be recognized at the annual Phi Kappa Phi Induction Ceremony at 2 p.m. April 27 in the Student Union Simplot Ballroom.
The other 2014 winners are:
- Alaythia Filip, College of Arts and Sciences: Filip wrote“16th Century Anatomical Illustrations: Emphasizing the Relationship Between Exterior and Interior” for ART 499: Seminar, Visualizing Nature, taught by Janice Neri.
- Kyle Brookman, College of Business and Economics: Brookman wrote “The Economic Implications of Food Waste and Sustainable Development” for ECON 498: Economics of Sustainability, taught by Michail Fragkias.
- Sarah Dallas Pullen, College of Business and Economics: Pullen wrote “Employee Privacy Protection: Comparing the Private and Public Sectors” for HRM 305: Human Resources Management, taught by Dusty Bodie.
- Nicole Inghilterra, College of Social Sciences and Public Affairs: Inghilterra wrote “Making a Home in Hokkaido: Examining the Ainu Chisei Nomi Ceremony” for ANTH 216: Magic, Witchcraft and Religion, taught by John Ziker.
The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi is the nation’s oldest, most selective and most prestigious all-discipline honor society.
The annual writing competition honors the late Wallace G. Kay, who served Boise State University as assistant director and later as associate director of the Honors Program and as an English professor. He came to the university in 1986 from the University of Southern Mississippi and served until his death in 1996. Professor Kay was honored three times by Top Ten Scholars as “Most Influential Professor,” and he was a gifted poet and scholar.