TEST Noon Undergraduate Celebration with live stream
TEST
Columbian College of Arts & Sciences
Undergraduate Celebration
Date • Time
Charles E. Smith Center
Columbian College graduates are invited to attend the in-person Undergraduate Celebration ceremonies on May 14 at the Charles E. Smith Center. The celebration is open to graduates receiving their bachelor's and associate's degrees, along with family and friends. Not sure which ceremony to attend? See the list of participating majors.
All graduates are also invited to attend the May 15 University-wide Commencement on the National Mall.
We look forward to celebrating the class of 2023! Join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using #CCASOnward.
Livestream
Press the play button to begin viewing. The ceremony will begin at 12 p.m. Eastern.
Participating Majors
- 12 p.m. Ceremony
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- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Criminal Justice
- Data Science
- Economics
- Human Services and Social Justice
- Journalism and Mass Communication (SMPA)
- Political Communication (SMPA)
- Political Science
- Political Science: Public Policy Focus
- Psychological and Brain Sciences
- Sociology
- 3:30 p.m. Ceremony
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- Africana Studies
- American Studies
- Anthropology
- Arabic Studies
- Archaeology
- Art History (Corcoran)
- Art History and Fine Arts (Corcoran)
- Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Biological Anthropology
- Biological Sciences
- Biophysics
- Chemistry
- Chinese Language and Literature
- Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
- Cognitive Science of Language
- Communication
- Creative Writing and English
- Dance (Corcoran)
- English
- Environmental and Sustainability Science
- Environmental Studies
- Fine Arts (Corcoran)
- Fine Arts, Photojournalism Concentration (Corcoran)
- French Language, Literature, and Culture
- Geography
- Geological Sciences
- German Language and Literature
- Graphic Design (Corcoran)
- History
- Interaction Design (Corcoran)
- Interior Architecture (Corcoran)
- Japanese Language and Literature
- Judaic Studies
- Korean Language and Literature
- Mathematics
- Music (Corcoran)
- Neuroscience
- Organizational Sciences
- Peace Studies
- Philosophy
- Philosophy: Public Affairs Focus
- Photojournalism (Corcoran)
- Physics
- Religion
- Russian Language and Literature
- Spanish and Latin American Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
- Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences
- Special Interdisciplinary Major
- Statistics
- Theatre (Corcoran)
- Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
- Associate in Arts, General Studies
Celebration Program
Download the 2022 CCAS Undergraduate Celebration program PDF to view digitally, follow along during the ceremony or print at home.
Our Speakers
Mark S. Wrighton
President, George Washington University
Noon Celebration Speaker
Christopher A. Bracey
Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs
3:30 p.m. Celebration Speaker
Paul Wahlbeck
Dean, Columbian College of Arts and Sciences; Professor of Political Science
Dwight Kravitz
Associate Professor, Cognitive Neuroscience
Director, Cognitive Neuroscience BA Program
Dwight Kravitz is an associate professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and director of the Cognitive Neuroscience Undergraduate Program. He obtained both his undergraduate and doctoral degrees at Carnegie Mellon University, receiving his Ph.D. in 2006.
Prior to joining GW in 2013, Professor Kravitz was a research fellow at the National Institute of Mental Health, where he won the Julius Axelrod Prize. His current research focuses on the cognitive neuroscience of human vision.
Sarah Wagner
Professor of Anthropology
Director of Graduate Studies, Anthropology PhD Program, Health Science and Society (Science and Technology Advisor)
Sarah Wagner is a professor of anthropology and is the author of To Know Where He Lies: DNA Technology and the Search for Srebrenica’s Missing (University of California Press, 2008) and co-author with Lara J. Nettelfield of Srebrenica in the Aftermath of Genocide (Cambridge University Press, 2014). In 2017, she was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship and a National Endowment of the Humanities Public Scholar Award to complete her third book, What Remains: Bringing America’s Missing Home from the Vietnam War (Harvard University Press, 2019), which won the 2020 Victor Turner Prize for Ethnographic Writing. Her research focuses on post-conflict societies, memory, national identity, and forensic science applied in the wake of war, and, most recently, on COVID-19 death and mourning. She currently co-leads a team of student and faculty researchers with the GW Anthropology Department on a National Science Foundation-funded study examining pandemic commemoration in an era of misinformation. In addition to her scholarly publications, she has written opinion editorials and blog posts for the Washington Post, The Hill, Baltimore Sun, and LA Times. Professor Wagner holds degrees from Dartmouth College (A.B), the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University (M.A.L.D.), and Harvard University (Ph.D.).
Darius Cozart
BA in Political Science
2022 Distinguished Scholar
Darius Cozart is a graduating political science major. As an undergraduate, he participated in community organizing focused on racial and economic inequality around campus, as well as in the Washington, D.C., area, and throughout his hometown of Denver, Colorado. Broadly, his research aims to explore currents of racial unfreedom and anti-democratic development within American political systems through the lens of policing and incarceration. His future work hopes to connect legacies of Black enslavement and U.S. apartheid with the contemporary politics of state punishment. Recent projects include an independent study evaluating the effects of heightened police expenditures on the lethality of policing for Black people and a coauthored, survey-based piece exploring differential perceptions of police funding between races. Upon graduating, Darius will pursue his Ph.D. in political science at Princeton University.
Phillip Parel
BS in Biology, BS in Chemistry
2022 Distinguished Scholar
Philip Parel from Palm Beach, Florida, was a GW Presidential Academic Scholar, a Phi Beta Kappa inductee, and a double-major in Chemistry and Biology with a concentration in Cellular and Molecular Biology. As an undergraduate student, Philip studied under the guidance of Professor Nehal Mehta, who took Philip under his wing and taught him how to research, analyze PET-CT scans, and mentored him at the National Institutes of Health. Philip is always the first to support his peers and willingly volunteers his time to help classmates who are struggling with course material. He is also an avid volunteer, spending his time serving breakfast at the local homeless shelter, Miriam’s Kitchen, and tutoring his peers as an Undergraduate Teaching Assistant with Professors Martín Zysmilich and Chris Cahill. In the fall, Philip will be matriculating to the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences, where he plans to earn his M.D. degree and pursue his dream to become an orthopedic surgeon, serving the underprivileged and giving back to the many communities and people who raised him.
Faculty Awards
- Robert W. Kenny Prize for Innovation in Teaching of Introductory Courses
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The Robert W. Kenny Prize for Innovation in Teaching of Introductory Courses is awarded annually to a faculty member in the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences who has shown innovation, creativity, and originality in teaching an introductory course in the Arts and Sciences. The recipient, who is among the most talented of our teachers, teaches an introductory or basic course during the academic year in a novel and innovative way. Professors receiving this award have encouraged their students to think differently, allowing them to take advantage of their academic experience at the George Washington University. The Kenny Prize honors former Dean Robert Kenny and his special dedication to stimulating experiences for GW students and his emphasis on the importance of introductory courses as students undertake their studies in the liberal arts and sciences.
- Phillip Troutman, Assistant Professor of Writing and of History, Director of Writing in the Disciplines
- Sara Matthiesen, Assistant Professor of History and of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
- Honorable Mention: Xiaoke Zhang, Assistant Professor of Statistics
- Columbian Prize for Teaching and Mentoring Advanced Undergraduate Students
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The Columbian Prize for Teaching and Mentoring Advanced Undergraduate Students is awarded to a regular, full- time faculty member in the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences who demonstrates excellence in the teaching and mentoring of advanced undergraduate students. With this prize, we recognize exceptional achievement in one or more of the following areas of work: teaching an advanced undergraduate course, advising students, directing undergraduate research, designing a capstone experience, or mentoring students who achieve departmental honors and other distinctions.
- Randi Gray Kristensen, Professor of the University Writing Program, Deputy Director of Writing in the Disciplines
Relive the Memories: Past Celebrations
GW ALMA MATER
Hail Alma Mater
To thy spirit guiding,
Knowledge thy closest friend
In its strength abiding,
Pledge we fidelity
Ne'er its place resigning,
Hail thee George Washington!