ETSU will recognize top students for superior achievement during the annual Academic Excellence Convocation on Tuesday, April 21, at 7:30 p.m. in the D.P. Culp University Center’s Martha Street Culp Auditorium.
The Faculty Award winners, voted by the faculty as the most outstanding students in their respective academic departments, will be honored, along with all graduating students achieving a 3.5-4.0 grade point average, denoting cum laude, magna cum laude and summa cum laude academic standings. Also recognized will be graduating students in the Fine and Performing Arts, Roan Leadership, Honors and Midway scholars programs.
The guest speaker is Dr. Mark Giroux, an associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy who received ETSU’s 2008 Distinguished Faculty Award in Teaching. Giroux teaches lower-level courses like “General Physics” and “Technical Physics” as well as upper-level courses like “Atomic and Nuclear Physics” and “Optics.” He is the primary adviser for physics majors and physics honors-in-discipline students, and is noted by students and colleagues alike for his ability to make his subject matter understandable and for going out of his way to help students.
In addition to teaching, Giroux is very active in research and service. He has been a principal or co-investigator on numerous research projects that have garnered external grant funding from such agencies as NASA and the National Science Foundation, and he has published articles in some of the most prestigious refereed journals in the field of astronomy, including Astrophysical Journal and Astronomical Journal. He has served on various departmental and college committees, and, in the professional community, has refereed scientific manuscripts and helped organize two international conferences hosted by ETSU.
Giroux holds a bachelor’s degree in physics from Brown University and a Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Texas. Before coming to ETSU in 2001, he taught at Texas as well as Northwestern University and the University of Colorado.
The program is free and open to the public. Family and friends of the students being recognized are especially encouraged to attend the ceremony followed by a reception in the Culp Center Ballroom.
For more information or for special assistance for those with disabilities, call the Honors College office at (423) 439-6076.

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