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Shenandoah University celebrated its
2014 Commencement on May 10, with
250 August 2013 graduates and 327
December 2013 graduates joining the
707 May candidates for degrees during
the celebration. Executive Director and
co-founder of the Smashing Walnuts
Foundation Ellyn Miller delivered
the commencement address, while Eric
Schaeffer, artistic director and co-founder
of Signature Theatre in Arlington,
Virginia, was awarded an honorary
Doctor of Arts. Ms. Miller’s daughter,
Gabriella Miller ’13, the inspiration for
the creation of the Smashing Walnuts
Foundation and a national childhood
cancer research advocate, lost her yearlong battle with brain cancer on Oct.
26, 2013, just two weeks after receiving
her honorary degree from Shenandoah.
Algernon Sydney Sullivan Awards were
presented to seniors Brittany Butcher
’14 and Nicholas Ruxton ’14 as well
as retired Professor of Religion and
Philosophy John Copenhaver, Ph.D.
Sullivan awards are given annually to
Photo: Jason López
President Tracy Fitzsimmons completed the ALS
Ice Bucket Challenge on August 19, putting her
own personal twist on this national phenomenon.
She challenged the entire Shenandoah
community and students across the country to
take the next year and donate their time, talents
and money to the charity of their choice.
4
individuals of noble character whose
spiritual qualities are practically applied
to daily living and who go outside the
narrow circle of self-interest to invest
themselves in the well-being of others.
Shenandoah University was named
to Virginia Living’s Top High Schools
and Colleges list for the second year in
a row. The university’s performing arts
medicine graduate certificate program was
honored in the Performing Arts category
of the magazine’s “State of Education
2014,” a special bound-in supplement
in the October issue. The magazine cited
the program’s “...innovative approach to
educating health care professionals and
performing arts educators on the prevention,
assessment and management of injuries and
disorders specific to dancers, theatre artists
and musicians,” in addition to its clinical
research to determine best practices.
President Tracy Fitzsimmons, Ph.D.,
participated in the amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis (ALS) Ice Bucket Challenge in