Julianne Foster, a senior from Rochester, N.Y., who has achieved high academic success and made significant contributions to the campus and surrounding community, has been chosen to receive the 2016 Lanford Presidential Prize, an honor that recognizes a member of the graduating class who has exhibited balanced achievement and exemplified Fredonia's ideals.
Criteria for the award, endowed by the late President Emeritus Oscar E. Lanford and Mrs. Esther Lanford, include significant intellectual growth and achievement, a minimum grade point average of 3.5 and exemplary service to Fredonia as well as a high degree of personal honesty and integrity. It will be presented at the morning Commencement on May 14.
Ms. Foster, daughter of Louis and Susan Foster, is majoring in Communication - Media Management and has minors in English and Leadership Studies.
The owner of a robust 3.89 cumulative GPA at the start of her senior year, Foster has compiled an impressive list of academic achievements, beginning with receipt of the Faculty-Staff Scholarship Award in her first two years at Fredonia. She was inducted into Golden Key International Honour Society, first-year honor society Alpha Lambda Delta and Communication honor society Lambda Pi Eta, and also received the Arthur Maytum Scholarship and the Golden Key Outstanding Junior Award. She has been named to Dean’s List in every semester.
During the summer of 2014, Foster studied English literature (contemporary drama and works by Virginia Woolf) at one of the 38 colleges that comprise the historic University of Oxford, England.
Foster exhibited leadership skills as president of Golden Key, co-coordinator of the 11th annual Fall Sweep and coordinator of SPARK-A-Change, a Golden Key initiative that seeks to improve the lives of at-risk youth through literacy, education and real-world preparedness. She also facilitated health and wellness outreach programs and events during an internship with FRED Well, a part of Student Counseling Services. As a member of the Applied Communication Association, Foster organized and coordinated a public speaking competition open to all students and community members.
She was an active participant in Relay For Life, beach and creek cleanup campaigns, after-school children’s programs, Global Youth Service Day and has also provided service to Chautauqua County Rural Ministry. Foster also helped coordinate a book and school supply drive, Books Across Borders.
In a current internship with the Northern Chautauqua Community Foundation, Foster is helping to create, organize and promote events throughout the year that commemorate the organization’s 30th anniversary.
Foster is also a three-year member of Fredonia’s cheerleading team that performs at men’s and women’s basketball games, as well as Homecoming soccer games, the Pink the Rink hockey game and select swim meets.
A graduate of Penfield High School, Foster plans to pursue a career in event management or marketing, though graduate school remains an option.
