Ortiz, Morgenthaler Collect Prestigious Academic Awards
June 1, 2012
CORVALLIS, Ore. -
Oregon State women’s rowing student-athletes Alexa Ortiz and Lauren Morgenthaler have recently been award a pair of prestigious academic honors.
Ortiz, after being named honorable mention two years in a row, has been honored by OSU’s Faculty Senate Student Recognition and Awards Committee with the Waldo-Cummings Award.
The Waldo-Cummings Award is regarded as the most prestigious acknowledgement given to undergraduates at OSU, recognizing academic excellence (minimum 3.5 GPA or better) and superior extracurricular achievements.
Ortiz carries a 3.90 grade-point average while studying zoology with a concentration in pre-veterinary medicine and minors in entomology as well as fisheries and wildlife science. The junior from Vancouver, Wash. (Skyview HS) rowed most of the season the Beavers’ Second Varsity 8.
The roots of the Waldo-Cummings Award date back to 1912, when Clara H. Waldo founded the Waldo Award to recognize the outstanding accomplishments of female students at OSU (then Oregon Agricultural College). Waldo was the first woman to serve on the Oregon State System of Higher Education Board of Regents, doing so in 1905. OSU’s Waldo hall carries her name.
In 1948, the widow of local businessman E.A. Cummings arranged an endowment to recognize the achievements of OSU’s male graduates. Later, the awards were combined and the gender-specificity was dropped.
Morgenthaler is one of 10 members of the Oregon State University College of Liberal Arts that will be named as an “Outstanding Senior.” The award recognizes these students’ exemplary academic achievements, university and community service and personal and professional goals.
Morgenthaler has a 3.98 GPA and will graduate this month with a degree in sociology and a minor in Spanish within the University Honors College. The senior from Bellevue, Idaho (Wood River HS) split her time rowing in the Beavers’ Second Varsity 8 and the varsity 4+.
