COOKEVILLE, Tenn. April 22, 2005 – Tennessee Tech University’s Derryberry Award winners and finalists have one thing in common — excellence.

Stephanie Ward, an English and Spanish major from Warren County, is this year’s winner of TTU’s most prestigious student award.

The late Everett Derryberry, president of TTU for 34 years, established this annual award upon his retirement. He wanted an award of merit to be given “to a senior who has exhibited scholastic attainment arising out of moral and intellectual integrity; successful campus activity where participation indicates a commitment to good citizenship, interest in one’s fellow persons, and instincts for leadership; and physical vigor as shown by fondness for and success in sports.”

Ward, the daughter of Charles and Joanne Ward, is a graduate of John T. Hoggard High School. At TTU, she has an overall grade-point average of 3.9, on a 4.0 scale. She’s a three-time winner of the university’s President’s Award and a four-time winner of the OVC Academic Medal of Honor. She’s also a recipient of this year’s Tennessee Board of Regents Rep. Harold Love Outstanding Community Involvement Award.

She is a member of the Mortar Board senior honor society and a Verizon Academic All-American. Ward also garnered the OVC Scholar-Athlete Award in 2003 as a track and field specialist and made the Commissioner’s Honor Roll four times.

In addition to Mortar Board, Ward is a member of several other elite honor societies on campus. They include Alpha Lambda Delta, for freshmen; Sigma Tau Delta, for English; and Alpha Mu Gamma, for foreign languages.

The Derryberry Award selection process involves soliciting campus nominations from every department, school, college and administrative division, as well as from Student Government Association Executive Officers.

Out of this year’s nominees, three other students were chosen as finalists for the award. They are Janice Barr, a nursing major from Monroe County; Kenneth Stiles, a mathematics major from Bolivar, Mo.; and Benjamin Calahan, an electrical and computer engineering major from Cumberland County.

--Tracey LeFevre
This information posted 25 April 2005