UA News

Achievement medals are awarded to six outstanding UA undergraduate students who have dedicated countless hours of service to the UA, local and/or global community while excelling academically.

Six students will be honored with achievement medals during the University of Arizona's 140th Commencement ceremony for undergraduate students at 9 a.m. May 15 at McKale Memorial Center.

Alexandra Keffeler, Zachary Ronan, Alison Lucht, Donnie Zacharias, Mary Garcia and Timothy Malan will be honored with medals for their scholastic ability, citizenship, leadership and promise for the future.

Freeman Medals, Robie Medals and Nugent Awards recognize students who come from diverse backgrounds and studies but are similar in their dedicated contributions to University, local or global need.

See the Commencement website for more information on the ceremony. 

Robert Logan Nugent Medals: Alexandra Keffeler and Zachary Ronan

Alexandra Keffeler expects to graduate Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in communication from the College of Social and Behavior Science. She will graduate with honors and with minors in marketing and Spanish.

While at the UA, she has participated in many clubs and organizations including Alpha Phi Omega, Arizona Ambassadors, Lambda Pi Eta and Social and Behavioral Science Ambassadors. She is also a member of the Honors College, the Phi Beta Kappa Honors Society and is a recipient of the President's Scholarship.

Throughout her undergraduate experience, Keffeler held internships at Meetings and Concierge Source, LLC in Scottsdale and the BIO5 Institute on the UA campus.

She has also been a part of Spring Fling with the Associated Students of the UA for four years. She advanced from a club representative to field supervisor chair, business director and this year, the executive director. Spring Fling provided her with an opportunity to work with UA students, faculty, staff and the Tucson community. The event generates funds for scholarships, national conferences and community events.

Keffeler volunteers for many Tucson organizations including the Southern Arizona Aids Foundation and Habitat for Humanity. In addition, she has been a loyal volunteer at Tu Nidito, a local organization that provides grief support for families. She has found the experience at Tu Nidito extremely fulfilling and her exposure to the organization has encouraged her to pursue a career in helping families with bereavement and loss.

Keffeler's honors thesis involves observing children's support groups at Tu Nidito and is writing her research on age as a factor in children's grief communication. She hopes the research will help Tu Nidito and other grief support organizations tailor their programs to address and understand how children communicate while experiencing grief at certain ages.

Keffeler thanks Dr. Jake Harwood from the communication department and Claudia Davila from ASUA for their assistance and guidance throughout her undergraduate career. She dedicates the award to her family.

After graduation, she plans on pursuing an advanced degree working with families experiencing bereavement and loss.

Zachary Ronan will graduate with honors and receive a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering from the College of Engineering with minors in general business administration and pre-health thematic.

Ronan's exemplary academic record and involvement at the UA has earned him the Arizona Presidents Award for Excellence scholarship, Conrad L. Fraps Memorial Scholarship, Harriet M. Tucker Scholarship, Arizona Leadership Enrichment Certificate and the College of Engineering Award for Highest Academic Distinction.

He is the president and founder of the Marathon Runners Club at the UA. The club promotes a healthy lifestyle for college students by providing an organized environment to train for marathons.

As a weekly volunteer in the emergency department at University Medical Center, Ronan gained experience working directly with physicians, nurses and other hospital staff members.

As a member of the UA's chapter of the Tau Beta Pi engineering honorary, he worked to help other engineering students become successful in their academic pursuits. In addition to assisting engineering students in all of their classes, including chemistry, physics and mathematics, he was the co-chairman of a bid committee that was responsible for bringing the Tau Beta Pi national convention to the University campus in 2011.

He also completed the UA's four-year Blue Chip Leadership Development Program and was elected as team leader of his group. The group specialized in non-profit social entrepreneurship and held events to raise awareness for businesses and organizations that worked to improve the local community.

Ronan was also the captain of a micro-financing project that battled poverty in impoverished countries. His team organized fundraisers and provided no-interest loans to poverty-stricken people plagued by high-interest loans and creditors.

He gained research experience conducting groundbreaking research on radiative forcing values with Dr. Paul Blowers creating a computer model to calculate the values, within minutes, at no cost and within the error range of experimentally determined values.  

He was also the preceptor for Dr. Oliver Monti's quantum mechanics class, leading reviews before every exam and holding math tutorials to help the students with the rigorous mathematics the course required.

He worked at ExxonMobil as a process engineering intern in Torrance, Calif., and was responsible for four projects designed to increase the profitability of the refinery and the reliability of the equipment. Upon graduation, he will continue his interest in the petroleum industry working as an associate engineer for Valero Energy Corporation in Benicia, Calif.

Robie Gold Medals: Alison Lucht and Donnie Zacharias

Alison Lucht will receive a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from the Eller College of Management. She plans to graduate Summa Cum Laude and will be honored as the accounting department's Outstanding Senior. Other awards include the Eller College of Management Award of Academic Distinction, first place in the Management Information Systems Cohort Competition, The Halstead Memorial Business Scholarship and the Women in Business Award.

As a member of the Accounting Student Association, Lucht was introduced to working professionals and industries of the accounting world and worked alongside classmates to serve in local charitable organizations such as the Tucson Community Food Bank and Ben's Bells.  

She was elected by her peers as vice president of the honorary club Beta Alpha Psi and helped coordinate a Special Olympics Track and Field event. She also participated in toy distribution at World Care, food box assembly at the Tucson Community Food Bank, served food at the Giving Tree and offered free Accounting 200 tutoring at the University.

She also worked with multiple undergraduate accounting teachers to ensure sufficient volunteers were available to proctor exams throughout the year. She represented the UA at the Regional Beta Alpha Psi Conference in San Francisco and at the National Conference in New York City where she participated in community service events, academic presentations and professional activities relating to the accounting and business world.

Lucht has been involved with the UA's Veterans Education and Transition Services, or V.E.T.S., program, which provides information and services for veterans on the UA campus. She established a liaison with the V.E.T.S. program and the Eller College, where she worked as an assistant advisor. She initiated contact with the Polytrauma team at the Tucson Veterans Affairs Hospital, working to facilitate communication with recently injured veterans to provide them information on the programs and services that are available for them through the G.I. Bill. She also offered free tutoring in math and accounting for those in the V.E.T.S. program.

She is also very involved at Catalina Foothills Church in Tucson. Her faith motivates her to give to others generously and humbly through community service. She has volunteered with the middle school youth group and during the summer she chaperoned and participated as a volunteer counselor during the group's summer camp. She has also been involved in her church's college and career group, serving on the leadership and outreach team and participating in service projects that include working with the Crisis Pregnancy Center in Tucson.

After graduation, she will be interning in the audit practice at PriceWaterhouseCoopers, one of the nation's big-four accounting companies. In the fall, she will begin pursuing a master's degree in accounting with the goal of becoming a certified public accountant and hopes to work in a non-profit company one day.

Donnie Zacharias expects to graduate Summa Cum Laude and with honors from the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences with a Bachelor of Arts degree in both history and Near Eastern studies.

He is a Tucson native and a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps with many service-related commendations. He graduated from Pima Community College in the fall of 2007 with an Associate of Arts degree in liberal arts, with highest honors, and he became a member of Phi Theta Kappa International Honors Society. While at Pima he was elected into Who's Who Among Students in American Junior Colleges and was selected for the National Dean's List.

At the UA, he became a member of the Phi Alpha Theta History Honors Society, the Golden Key International Honor Society and the Sigma Alpha Lambda National Leadership and Honors Organization. He received an award for the recitation of Arabic poetry at the 2008 Southern Arizona Language Fair and was the recipient of a Phi Theta Kappa Scholarship and the Cummings Loretta and Joseph Scholarship. He also recently became a member of the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society.

He completed an Honors College thesis titled "Radicalization of Islamist Groups in Algeria: A Historical Perspective," in which he applied social movement theory to trace the evolution of the Islamist platform in Algeria from its independence through modernity. He is also an active member of the UA V.E.T.S., or Veterans Education and Transition Services, organization and has participated in the planning and organization of events for the program.

Zacharias considers himself a "blue-collar scholar" and has worked as a plumber at his family's company while attending school and still finding time to engage in public service, both locally and globally. He has worked with homeless veterans and the disabled in the Tucson community.

In 2008, he worked on a peace proposal for Sri Lanka utilizing his military experience from the conflict in East Timor and his academic research on Cyprus as examples of progress and failure in conflict resolution for islands that are bifurcated, both ethnically and religiously, with majority/minority dynamics at play.

Religion has always been important to him. He was the religious lay leader for his platoon in the Marines and provided the music for religious services on all of his deployments. He also played guitar and sang for services at his parish in Tucson for many years. He has been involved with his church youth group and chaperoned a group of teens to World Youth Day in Germany in 2005 and to World Youth Day in Australia in 2008.

He is a member of the Veterans of Foreign War and the Marine Corps League Tucson Detachment. He is a world traveler who has been to 36 countries, 12 of which he traveled to while in the military. Donnie plans to finish his service to the U.S. government in a non-military capacity and upon retirement hopes to become a high school history teacher.

Zacharias would like to dedicate his Robie Gold Medal award to the V.E.T.S. office at the UA as proof that not only can veterans return from Afghanistan and Iraq and assimilate back into civilian society, but they can excel while doing it.

Merril P. Freeman Medals: Mary Garcia and Timothy Malan

Mary Garcia will receive a Bachelor of Health Sciences degree in physiology from the College of Medicine, with a minor in Spanish. She will graduate Cum Laude and with honors, upon completion of her senior honors thesis, which involves examining the importance of family history in breast cancer risk assessment. She has earned many University honors, including the President's Award for Excellence, and is a two-time recipient of the Laura and Arch Brown Honors Scholarship, offered by the UA Honors College.

Garcia grew up in Yuma, Ariz., and is a first generation college student who, along with her sister, will be the first in the family to graduate with a four-year degree. 

As a freshman at the UA, she participated in the Conversantes Course, offered by the UA College of Medicine's Office of Outreach and Multicultural Affairs, where she learned how to properly conduct medical interpretation in a clinical setting. As part of the program, Mary volunteered her time as a Spanish interpreter at Clinica Amistad, a local non-profit clinic in South Tucson. She also has served as a Spanish interpreter at University Medical Center and University Physicians Healthcare. 

Garcia has participated in the Arizona Maximizing Medical Education Potential Program offered by the UA College of Medicine, volunteering at the Yuma Regional Medical Center. She applied and was accepted into the Summer Medical and Dental Education Program, which allowed her to spend a summer at the University of California, Los Angeles, volunteering at local health fairs giving patients free blood glucose tests and blood pressure checks. She developed and presented a group presentation on breast cancer health disparities at the program's closing ceremony, a topic of interest for Mary because of her mother's experience as a breast cancer survivor.

Through her participation in the Minority Health Disparities Summer Research Program, Garcia was given the opportunity to work with Dr. Patricia Thompson, co-principal investigator for the ELLA Binational Breast Cancer Study. She completed an independent research project and presented her findings, earning first place in Public Health Research during the Annual Graduate College Summer Research Conference and at the Graduate Professional Student Council Student Showcase.

Garcia is a member of Omicron Delta Kappa, a national leadership and honor society, and an Honors Civic Engagement Team, where she serves as a computer instructor at a public library in South Tucson every Saturday morning. She also has served as a preceptor for an Honors College physiology laboratory course as well a preceptor for a Mexican American Studies course. She volunteers for Valor Hospice visiting two terminally ill patients regularly, reading to them and offering companionship. She also is a mentor for middle school students through Project SOAR, which stands for Student Outreach, Access, and Resiliency. She encourages middle school students to pursue a college education and serves as a role model for students who may think college is an unattainable goal for them.

Upon graduation, Garcia will pursue a medical education and will work toward a master's degree in public health from the UA. She hopes to someday work as a physician and public health educator in rural communities near the U.S.-Mexico border. She would also like to someday serve as a teaching physician at the UA College of Medicine.

Timothy Malan will receive a Bachelor of Science degree from the College of Science with a major in molecular and cellular biology and minors in Spanish and philosophy. He will graduate Magna Cum Laude with honors. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa Honorary Society.

For much of his undergraduate career, Malan performed scientific research as part of the Undergraduate Biology Research Program in the department of plant sciences, studying bacterial genetics and plant pathology under Dr. Leland Pierson III. He completed his honors thesis on the regulation of antibiotic biosynthesis in the beneficial root-associated bacterium Pseudomonas Chlororaphis.

The ultimate goal of the research is to use this natural root colonizing bacterium to reduce the growth of fungal pathogens that cause plant disease on roots helping to diminish environmental damage from chemical fungicide use and improve crop yield.

Malan has been actively involved with a number of campus organizations including serving as president of the Honors Student Council, a student-run, non-profit organization designed to be a collective voice for UA honors students. As president, he started the Faculty Inspiring Student Leaders Program, a program in which faculty with strong leadership experience participate in small group discussions and share their experiences with the members of Honors Student Council. Timothy led the Honors Student Council during a difficult period for the University and used a constructive approach to address new Honors College fees. 

In addition, he organized and hosted, in collaboration with other clubs and residence halls, the Midwinter Masquerade Ball. The masquerade ball raised funds for the Red Cross's earthquake relief efforts in Haiti, provided free ballroom dancing lesions and created a small community atmosphere among the 200-plus UA students who attended. The Midwinter Masquerade received the UA Accolade Award for "Outstanding Philanthropy Award" and Malan was the recipient of the 2009-2010 Accolade Award for "Outstanding Senior Leader."

His service activities have centered on his interests in education and encouraging success among the youth. He is very active in Camp Wildcat, a student-run, non-profit organization that sponsors a free weekend camping trip to encourage underprivileged youth to attend college and aim for success. He has worked as a camp counselor in 13 weekend camping trips, directed a camp for 50 middle school students and will direct the final Camp Wildcat of the year at the Grand Canyon after graduation. Malan also participated in Project SOAR (Student Outreach, Access, and Resiliency), a program designed to pair college students with middle school students as mentors. He served as a mentor for two middle school students that had engaged in gang activity.

He also completed a summer internship with the Rio Arte Program in Costa Rica. Among other activities, he created and directed the first children's summer camp in the small village of Volcán, a rural agricultural valley. The camp was open to K-12 students with the goal to of getting students involved in literature, arts and team building activities during their break from school.

After graduation, he will immediately begin the Teach Arizona Program, the master's degree program at the UA that prepares students to become teachers in K-12 schools. Following completion of this one year program, he plans to teach biology and chemistry at an Arizona high school.