On Dec 2., 100 of Baldwin Wallace University’s highest-achieving students will be inducted into BW’s Dayton C. Miller Honor Society.
Founded in 1948 to honor distinguished BW graduate and former president of the Baldwin Wallace University Board of Trustees Dayton C. Miller, the Dayton C. Miller Honor Society is devoted to “the recognition of academic excellence,” according to its mission statement in the ceremony’s program.
Students inducted into the society must currently have at least 70 semester hours, 32 of which must have been earned at BW, and have one of the top 100 GPAs of students who meet those requirements and who are not already members. Only 4% of BW undergraduates ever achieve membership.
“Dayton C. Miller, the man, you know, academic excellence was really important to him,” said Associate Director of the BW Honors Program Margaret Stiner. “Back when they decided to name the organization after him, they acknowledged that, and that’s something we’re honored to carry on. We value these students’ commitment to academic excellence and their academic achievements.”
The student scholars currently being inducted into the society are also asked to name their most influential BW faculty or staff member in helping them to achieve success at BW, said Stiner.
“[Each student] is invited to ask their most influential faculty [or staff] member to join us, and when we introduce each of the inducted students, we’ll also say a couple words about the faculty [or staff] member that they named,” Stiner said. “So, it’s a group of students and their corresponding faculty members whom they’ve chosen to come.”
The induction ceremony for the students will be preceded by a dessert reception starting at 6:30 p.m. and will begin at 7:00 p.m. with a welcoming address by Honors Program Director Dr. Amy Lebo. Each student will be recognized by name and receive a certificate and Dayton C. Miller pin to commemorate their induction into the society, Stiner said.
The keynote speaker for the evening will be Patty Shipacasse. Shipacasse is Senior Internal Auditor at Hyland Software in Westlake, Ohio, as well as a member of the Board of Trustees of Shoes and Clothes for Kids. She is also an alumnus of Baldwin Wallace University and a former inductee of the Dayton C. Miller Honor Society. The keynote speaker at the induction is always an alumnus, Stiner said.
The entire induction serves as a time to celebrate the successes of students who have put exceptional time and effort into their studies, as well as the BW faculty and staff who have been instrumental in those academic successes, said Stiner.
“In paying tribute to new members [of Dayton C. Miller] we recognize those who have excelled in significant ways,” the induction ceremony’s program reads, “and we also remind ourselves of the major functions of a university: to foster learning and to develop scholars.”