At a glance
Two Alfred State graduating seniors – Amanda Bush of Altoona, PA, and Masanari Yamamoto of Tokyo, Japan – have been named State University of New York Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence recipients for 2012.
Two Alfred State graduating seniors – Amanda Bush of Altoona, PA, and Masanari Yamamoto of Tokyo, Japan – have been named State University of New York Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence recipients for 2012.
Bush, an animal science major, serves as a member of several campus clubs, including Vet Tech, Equestrian, Woodsmen’s, Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, and Collegiate Agricultural Leaders Club. She is active in community service and outreach projects, supporting local animal shelters and raising public awareness about responsible pet ownership, and participated in Alfred State’s Haiti outreach. Bush has been named a Distinguished Scholar, been on Dean’s List, and was a Phi Theta Kappa Honors Society nominee. Her leadership efforts include being co-captain and floor captain of the Lady Pioneers Volleyball Team, Vet Tech Club president, and team leader of the Haiti work teams. She has organized and led study groups for several courses, and received her first associate degree in veterinary technology in May 2011.
Yamamoto, a financial planning major, has served as a resident assistant at Alfred State for five semesters, and has received several academic and athletic distinctions: The Alstom Power, Inc. Excellence Award; Academic All-American; Western New York Athletic Conference Award (Academic Male Athlete of the Year); Male Academic Athlete Award; WNYAC 1st Team All-Conference; and the Men’s Soccer Offensive MVP Award. He has earned a spot on the Dean’s List for seven consecutive semesters, served as an orientation leader for incoming freshmen, and been a member of the Japan Earthquake Relief Team. Yamamoto also received the NAPFA Northeast Region Scholarship to attend the 2011 Practice Management and Investment Conference in Brooklyn, NY.
The SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence was created in 1997 to recognize students who have best demonstrated, and been recognized, for the integration of academic excellence with accomplishments in the areas of leadership, athletics, community service, creative and performing arts, or career achievement.
Each year, campus presidents establish a selection committee, which reviews exemplary members of their college communities who are graduating. Nominees are then forwarded to the Chancellor’s Office and are subject to a second round of review. Finalists are then recommended to the Chancellor to become recipients of the Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence.