Significance of Dean's List honor varies across campus

For students and administration alike, the meaning and celebration of academic honors such as the Dean's List brings about a variety of responses.

For Joyce Strawser, dean of the Stillman School of Business, stu­dents who make the Dean's List represent "talent and drive."

The Stillman School, Strawser said, sends out a letter of recogni­tion and a certificate that can be framed. The nursing school does the same, according to the dean, Phyllis Hansell.

The Stillman School also posts the names of the students who make the list each semester on a board in the 5 floor lobby of Ju­bilee.

Strawser added that the business school has a luncheon each year to honor scholarship winners and students who achieve and main­tain a 4.0 GPA.

Students who get these honors "are so involved," Strawser said. "When someone can do all those things, (the school) wants to en­courage and support them."

For Christopher Kaiser, as­sociate dean for Undergraduate Student Services and Enrollment Management, the most important recognition for students, is the fact that Dean's List is written on their transcripts for each semester the student achieves that honor.

"A certificate is a nice gesture," Kaiser said. He said having the honor on a student's transcript each semester could be seen by potential employers.

Kaiser called the business school's luncheon reception for students with a 4.0 GPA a "great idea" and added that the College of Arts & Sciences had tried it one year, but found that the levels of employment after graduation, the same asset which Strawser ad­mired, created a low turnout .

"We'd invite a lot of people and then about four would show up," Kaiser said.

Kaiser said that while being on the Dean's List means the student is a "strong candidate," "Dean's List should not be the ultimate goal," Kaiser said. "You go to col­lege to learn.

A survey of several Seton Hall students showed that most only had a fuzzy idea of what the re­quirements for Dean's List were even though many said they had received a certificate and/or letter in the mail to inform them they had made the list.

To make Dean's List, students must have at least a 3.4 GPA and can get no grade lower than a C.

Valerie Nobile, a senior in the College of Education and Human Services, said she did not know offhand what the requirements for Dean's List were, but knew that she had received certificates and had been on it all four years.

"I don't feel any different than I did in middle school receiving these types of certificates," Nobile said. "Though, the gesture is ap­preciated. It would nice if the school would reward students with maybe a slight increase in scholarship if they have main­tained Dean's List for a certain time period."

Sophomore Diplomacy major Gabe Torres said he is currently on the Dean's List and received a cer­tificate in the mail, but he, too, did not know what the requirements were offhand.

Torres said being named to the Dean's List was a "confidence booster," and said he was unsure whether he felt the University's level of recognition was enough.

Senior business student Carolyn Taggart said she liked the board the Stillman School had that listed all the names, but wished it were more prominent.

"I think it would be nice for that list to be in the front of Jubilee," Taggart said.

Caitlin Carroll can be reached at caitlin.carroll@student.shu.edu.