Assumption honored 74 students with awards for academic excellence during the 34th Annual Honors Convocation, held on April 23 in the Jeanne Y. Curtis Performance Hall. Awards ranged from departmental honors to special recognitions to Augustine Scholarships, the institution’s highest academic honor.
“The Honors Convocation recognizes those students who have not only demonstrated academic excellence, but also outstanding character and service to the community in which they reside,” said Louise Carroll Keeley, Ph.D., provost and vice president for academic affairs. “During the Convocation, Assumption’s 15 academic departments honor the most meritorious student in each of their primary programs of study with a prestigious department award, a significant achievement for an undergraduate. On behalf of the institution, I congratulate these devoted scholars for their commitment to learning.”
Each year, the institution invites a distinguished alumnus or alumna to address the honorees on the value of a liberal arts education.
This year’s keynote speaker was Thomas McCarthy, Ph.D. ’71, senior vice president and head of the healthcare antitrust practice of National Economic Research Associates, a consulting firm located in Los Angeles.
McCarthy shared that a liberal arts education provides students with knowledge, critical reasoning – which he called the “gem of a liberal arts education” – humility and, most important, intellectual independence. “The temptation to stop thinking for yourself is great,” he shared with the honored students, adding that in a world filled with analysis and opinions, one might become apathetic. “I hope the liberal arts have nourished your instincts to [perform] your own evaluations and weigh an argument from both sides. It’s a good habit. And I hope you also have the confidence to trust your own conclusions. Be brave enough to rely on your learning.”
McCarthy said that a liberal arts education not only gives one’s life adaptability but also enriches it. “There are simply more things for you to enjoy when you are familiar with the many great books and many great ideas,” he explained. “These are skills that give you a breadth of interest and experience, so I would suggest you use all of what you’ve been given. … Your liberal arts background is the key to that enormous and brewing life of facts and ideas. … Enjoy what you have and do your best to pass it on. That’s what Assumption has done for students like you year after year after year.”
