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May 14, 2006
Morningside College conferred 175 bachelor’s degrees and 101 Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) degrees during its 108th spring commencement exercises held Saturday, May 13, at 2 p.m. on the Hickman-Johnson-Furrow Learning Center lawn.
In addition to the 227 spring graduates, degrees were conferred upon August and December 2005 graduates, as well as students expected to graduate in August 2006.
An honorary Doctor of Science degree was conferred upon Dr. Elsie Muller, a resident of Sioux City and retired professor of mathematics at Morningside, and an honorary Doctor of Laws degree was conferred upon retired Army Lt. Gen. Roger C. Schultz, former director of the Army National Guard. The college presented these honorary degrees in honor of their commitment to life-long learning, civic responsibility, and ethical leadership, the tenets of Morningside’s mission.
 Dr. Patrick Bass, professor of history and political science at Morningside, received the Lucille and Charles Wert Faculty Award for excellence in teaching. This award recognizes the faculty member judged by his peers to best exemplify the ideas of the academic teaching profession at Morningside. Bass, who came to the college in 1992, served as chair of the history and political science department from 1996 to 2002 and again from 2003 to 2005. He was voted the Faculty Person of the Year by Morningside’s student chapter of Omicron Delta Kappa (ODK), a national honor society, in 1996. He has served on the faculty’s Promotion and Tenure Committee since 2003. Previously, he has served as president of the Faculty Senate, as faculty athletics representative, as faculty marshal, and as a faculty senator. He has been a member of many committees at the college.
Bass served for a total of eight years on the Sioux City Historic Preservation Commission, most recently from 1999 to 2004, and also on the Sioux City Public Museum Humanities Advisory Committee. He holds a doctorate degree in history from The Claremont Graduate School in Claremont, Calif., and a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Harvey Mudd College, also in Claremont.
Outstanding graduates were recognized with special awards in their fields of study. Four graduates received the Dr. Tom Curry Outstanding Business Student Award, given for the first time this year in memory of the late Tom Curry, who was associate professor of business administration and economics at Morningside from 1991 to 2005. These graduates included: Richard Donner, South Sioux City, Neb.; Jonathan Fisk, Olathe, Kan.; Tara Schubert, Galva, Iowa; and Zachary Zalewski, Lincoln, Neb.
Other graduates and their awards included: Michael Drury, Sioux City, Graduating Senior Art Award; Steven Deppe, Prole, Iowa, Lawrence Bandholz Award in Mathematical Science; Pamela Mason, Sioux City, Iowa, Marie Bandholz Award in Special Education; Angela Phillips, South Sioux City, Neb., Dr. B. G. Knepper Award in English; Heather Dauel, Kearney, Neb., Lorraine E. Knepper Award in Nursing; Lacey Bensink, Monroe, Iowa, Montford and Gertrude Knepper Award in English; and Cynthia Rilling, Moville, Iowa, Dr. Tom Narak Award in Education.
Four graduates were recognized with Dean’s Awards, for their outstanding academic achievements in one of the four areas that comprise the Morningside College curriculum, including: Drury, Dean’s Award in Fine Arts; Fisk, Dean’s Award in Humanities; Jenna Rehnstrom, Hartington, Neb., Dean’s Award in Professional Services and Influence; and Mariah Laver, Harlan, Iowa, Dean’s Award in Sciences.
For a complete list of all the graduates who participated in the exercise, click here.
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