LPS Student Awards 2009

• Justin Alexander - Bachelor of Arts, Dean’s Scholar
• Magrielle Eisen - Bachelor of Arts, Association of Alumnae Continuing Education Award
• Kelly Uckun - Bachelor of Arts, Ronald J. Caridi Award
• Ross Cockrell - Bachelor of Arts, Linda Bowen Santoro Award
• Greg Kelder - Master of Environmental Studies, Deans’ Scholar

Justin Alexander

Bachelor of Arts, Dean’s Scholar

Justin Alexander has made the Dean’s List each year he has been at Penn. He started his career at Penn in Spring 2005 as a part-time philosophy major, balancing his academic work with a full-time career as a mortgage broker.

In the Fall of 2007, when the housing market collapsed, he left his job to enroll full time at LPS. The following semester, he enrolled in a class at Penn Law and took on a research position under Professor Harry Reicher focusing on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. He had discovered his calling: a career in the legal system that would fuse his intellectual pursuits with his desire to help those struggling in difficult situations. His research culminated in a twenty-five-page research paper that is in revision for potential publication.

He has taken four classes at Penn Law while enrolled full-time at LPS; he received a 4.0 in all courses and has written a Senior Honor’s thesis. Dr. Claire Finkelstein, a tenured professor at Penn Law, is his thesis advisor. His thesis delivers a critical assessment of the moral permissibility of torture from the perspective of contractarianism. Upon completion, he plans to submit the thesis for publication to several different philosophy and social science undergraduate journals.

Justin has applied to and been accepted at several law schools and plans to matriculate in the fall 2009 with an eye to becoming a criminal defense attorney.  He wants to provide those who have made mistakes with the best possible chance to preserve their future opportunities--opportunities that may provide them with incentives to turn their lives around.

back to top

Magrielle Eisen

Bachelor of Arts, Association of Alumnae Continuing Education Award

Before matriculating at Penn, Magrielle Eisen danced professionally with ballet companies in Seattle, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. In 2004, she returned to Philadelphia, near her hometown of Wynnewood, to pursue a B.A. in Anthropology with a minor in Gender, Culture, and Society.

As a student at Penn, Magrielle studied abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina during the summer of 2005. She is a member of the Pi Gamma Mu International Honor Society in the Social Sciences and has the distinction of having been on the Dean's List every academic year she has attended Penn.

Magrielle found that the intensity and breadth of Penn's academic environment has made for an experience that has been as challenging as it has been rewarding.  When asked about memorable professors and courses at Penn, Magrielle offers Professor Fran Barg as the inspiration for her future career path. "In her Medical Anthropology course, Professor Barg introduced me to various methods for using the tools of anthropology to analyze and discuss issues in medicine from a cultural perspective. Professor Barg's course sparked my interest in the field and prompted me to pursue courses that emphasized the many points of intersection between culture, science, and medicine.

"As a junior, I participated in the course Human Reproductive Ecology, in which Professor Claudia Valeggia offered a unique, interdisciplinary approach to medical anthropology in the area of reproduction. Professor Valeggia's teaching style, combined with scientific and other academic literature and personal experiences from her work in the field, strengthened my skills in understanding, researching, and writing in medical anthropology.

"Finally, Professor Seran Schug's all-around encouragement throughout my Penn career has played a meaningful role in my development as an undergraduate student."

Starting in June, Magrielle will be working as a paralegal for a complex litigation law firm in Philadelphia. She is considering applying to law school in the future, with an ultimate goal of practicing as an attorney in the areas of bioethics and reproductive law.

back to top

Kelly Uckun

Bachelor of Arts, Ronald J. Caridi Award

Kelly Uckun came to Penn as a transfer student to pursue a bachelor’s degree in Linguistics with a minor in Cognitive Science. As a part-time student working full time, Kelly found the Linguistics program at Penn to be a stellar program, and LPS’s schedule ideal for her full life.

In addition to a deep interest in cultures, languages, and the brain’s amazing ability to process language, Kelly has an administrator’s bent and a passion to meet the real needs of people. Kelly was recruited by her first Penn instructor to work in the development department at a family emergency shelter in West Philadelphia to manage their government grants. Several years later, Kelly continues her work on behalf of Philadelphia’s homeless in her new role managing the grant-making process for Philadelphia’s city-funded homeless housing programs at the City of Philadelphia’s Office of Supportive Housing. Outside of work and school, Kelly also works as a Development Consultant for area non-profits, writing grants and planning special events.

In her professional life, Kelly saw the need for consistent and effective program evaluation to ensure that grants and donations from funders are genuinely meeting the needs of program participants. To complement her career, Kelly also received her certificate in Program Design, Management and Assessment from LPS in December 2007.

Kelly and her husband, Aybars, will also celebrate the birth of their first child this spring. After taking some time to welcome the newest member of their family, Kelly plans to pursue her graduate degree.

back to top

Ross Cockrell

Bachelor of Arts, Linda Bowen Santoro Award

Family circumstances prevented Ross from completing high school but, needing to support himself and driven by a passion for art, at age 16 he developed an Internet fine art business and operated a fine art gallery in Los Angeles. Ross always planned to complete his education, and when circumstances allowed he obtained his high school diploma. In 2004, he moved across the country and enrolled in Penn’s LPS program.

As a freshman and sophomore, Ross excelled in a number of economics and mathematics courses, which lead him to declare a major in economics. He also took an introductory architecture class that changed his life:  he decided that he wanted to combine architecture design work with real estate development. In his junior year, Ross was selected for the Architecture Intensive Major, one of twelve positions allowing advanced standing in PennDesign’s Master of Architecture program. Ross is graduating not only with a major in architecture, specializing in intensive design, and a minor in economics; he has also already completed the first year of a three-year master’s in architecture. In the fall of 2009, Ross will attend Penn’s School of Design in architecture. He also plans to apply to Wharton in order to pursue an MArchI/MBA dual degree.

Ross has been selected to the Dean’s list for four semesters, has a 3.75 GPA and is a lifetime member of Pi Gamma Mu, an international honor society in the social sciences. He was twice selected a member of the Kravis committee for undergraduate teaching in economics (chaired by Nobel Laureate Lawrence Klein and Petra Todd, economics undergraduate chair). This summer, Ross will be working as an architect on site at Kalamianos, Greece for the Saronic Harbors Archaeological Research Project (SHARP), co-directed by Penn’s Professor Thomas Tartaron.

back to top

Greg Kelder

Master of Environmental Studies, Deans’ Scholar

Greg is a Master of Environmental Studies student with a 3.96 GPA after completing eight of the twelve courses in the program. He has maintained this excellent grade point average while working full time and participating in numerous environment-related activities.  Greg’s concentration is in Environmental Policy. In addition to his excellent course work, Greg has gone above and beyond in contributions both to this master’s program and to the field of Environmental Studies. 

In the Spring of 2008, Greg and another MES student accompanied Stan Laskowski as representatives of Penn and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on a trip to Jordan to help train officials from nations from North Africa and the Middle East on institutional capacity building as it relates to environmental work. Greg led his own session at this meeting. Yvette Bordeaux, Director of the MES Program, notes that the participants were very impressed by his knowledge of environmental issues and his professionalism during this conference.

Last August, Greg attended the 2008 World Water Week Conference in Stockholm, Sweden with a group of Penn students. This week-long event was attended by several thousand water experts from around the world. While at the conference, Greg participated in discussions related to water policy and regulation. 

In January of 2009, Greg was chosen by the Initiative for Global Environmental Leadership (http://environment.wharton.upenn.edu/) to be one of only three non-MBA students to participate in the Wharton Antarctica Leadership Venture. He traveled to Antarctica and participated in a myriad of leadership development experiences.  In fact, he was in charge the day a number of the participants were trapped in some mud and had to organize a rescue operation to pull them out.  He was able to organize everyone and pull his fellow students to safety! 

As part of the program, students were given lectures from a number of scientists on Global Warming effects on the Antarctic. Greg and his fellow MES student became the on-site experts for environmental issues and were constantly asked questions on environmental impact, policy, and regulation. After only a few days in the program, the leaders of the Venture asked Greg and his fellow MES student to give an impromptu lecture on environmental issues to the group. The leaders of the venture were so pleased with the input from the MES students that they plan to invite more MES students next year.

Finally, Greg has been instrumental in helping to develop fundraising and legal help for the Philadelphia Global Water Initiative (www.pgwi.net). This enterprise brings together groups from the Philadelphia region who work on water-related problems and policy locally and worldwide. "Without Greg’s help," comments Dr. Bordeaux, "many of PGWI’s recent initiatives would not have occurred."

back to top