Commencement

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2011 

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2010-2011 Teacher / Scholar of the Year Award 

Kenneth D. Wald

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Kenneth D. Wald, a distinguished professor of 

political science, who has taught at the university of 

Florida since 1983, is the 2010-2011 Teacher/scholar 

of the Year.

 

One of the first scholars to call attention to the 

importance of religion in contemporary political 

behavior, Dr. Wald studies religion and politics in the 

united states, Britain and Israel. His findings have 

been published in major scholarly journals and in 

several books, including “religion and Politics in the 

united states” (6

th

 edition), “The Politics of Cultural 

Differences,” and “The Politics of Gay rights.” 

He has received research grants from the National 

science Foundation, the National endowment for 

the Humanities, and several private foundations.

Dr. Wald has been a Fulbright Professor at the Hebrew 

university of Jerusalem and a visiting scholar at the 

university of strathyclyde (scotland), Haifa university 

(Israel), Harvard university and the Centennial 

Center for Political science in Washington, D.C. 

He will be a visiting professor at the university of 

michigan-Ann Arbor during the fall 2011 semester. 

A frequent lecturer at universities in the united 

states and abroad, he also has given invited talks at 

the Chautauqua Institution in upstate New York, 

throughout China for the u.s. Information Agency 

and in the u.s. House of representatives. He has been 

a guest on PBs’ “NewsHour” and a commentator for 

The New York Times, Newsweek, the Jerusalem Post, 

Washington Times and other media outlets.

He co-founded and edits the Cambridge studies in 

social Theory, religion and Politics for Cambridge 

university Press. Wald is a founding member and 

former chair of the religion and Politics section of 

the American Political science Association. He has 

won the section’s best book and best paper prizes and 

a special award for his contributions to teaching and 

research on the subject.

Among his administrative responsibilities at uF, 

Wald served as chair of the department of political 

science and director of the Center for Jewish studies. 

He has been the redistricting consultant to the city of 

Gainesville since 1987 and twice testified as a federal 

expert witness in voting rights cases. Wald also serves 

on the Florida Department of education’s Task Force 

on Holocaust education.

 

At uF, he has been honored with a research 

Foundation Professorship, the William Carleton 

Term Professorship, the Distinguished Faculty 

Award from Florida Blue Key, and a Teacher of 

the Year Award from the College of Liberal Arts 

and sciences. He is proud to have supervised nine 

uF undergraduates who won competitive research 

grants from the university scholars and ronald 

mcNair programs and a dozen undergraduates and 

graduate students who received departmental prizes 

for their research.

Dr. Wald received his bachelor’s degree from the 

university of Nebraska, where he was inducted into 

Phi Beta Kappa, and earned his graduate degrees 

from Washington university in st. Louis.

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11

2011 

Summer      

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Constantine G. Metropulos

Four-Year Scholar

Constantine G. metropulos, 

who had the desire to pursue 

engineering from the time 

he opened his first set of 

Legos, is an Outstanding 

Four-Year scholar with a 

3.87 grade point average 

and a bachelor’s degree in 

electrical engineering.

 

As a result of his academic excellence, mr. metropulos 

received the George snow scholarship and was invited 

to join the Golden Key International Honors society 

and the National society of Collegiate scholars as 

a sophomore. He also was named an Anderson 

scholar with High Distinction and was placed on the 

President’s Honor roll and Dean’s List several times 

throughout his undergraduate career.

 

He started his college career as a mechanical 

engineering major and built a fully functioning 

mechanical robot that won a team robot competition 

when he was a sophomore. Despite his win, 

he elected to change his major. His interest in 

electromagnetics, along with guidance from family 

members and others, helped him decide to pursue 

electrical engineering instead.

 

mr. metropulos joined the Institute of electrical and 

electronics engineers as a junior. He also worked as 

a software verification test engineer intern at sezmi 

Corp. For community service, he helped at the Greek 

Youth of America south Florida Olympics. He also 

assisted with the audio and visual productions for the 

sights and sounds program along with coaching a 

team through the competitions.

 

mr. metropulos will be working for the National 

security Agency as a hardware and software design 

engineer. He also plans to pursue a master’s degree in 

electrical engineering.

Awards to Outstanding Scholars

The Selection Committee for Outstanding Scholars considers grade point average, curriculum, academic awards, and research projects or honors thesis. Four-year 

scholars must have started as freshmen at UF and have no more than minimal work at other institutions.   

Simone Sher

Four-Year Scholar

simone sher, who has an 

interest in psychology and 

medicine, is an Outstanding 

Four-Year scholar with a 

3.97 grade point average 

and a bachelor’s degree in 

psychology from the College 

of Liberal Arts and sciences.

 

ms. sher has achieved great success both in her 

academic performance and in her service to the 

community during her time at uF. she received the 

Peter J. sones Jr. and Charles Vincent and Heidi 

Cole mcLaughlin scholarships. she also was a Florida 

Bright Futures Academic scholar and named to the 

Dean’s List.

 

Her community activities include being a mentor 

for Gainesville youth through the Project mascot 

organization. As a volunteer at the Davis Therapy 

Center in Boca raton, she assisted patients who were 

undergoing physical, occupational and speech therapy.  

As a volunteer for West Boca medical Center, she 

assisted doctors and nurses in the care of patients in 

the pediatric intensive care unit and newborn nursery. 

she was a contributing editor for the ON PAr research 

magazine for the uF department of pediatrics.

ms. sher has completed research for the uF College 

of medicine and the uF department of clinical and 

health psychology. As lead research assistant of the 

Pediatric Neuropsychology Laboratory, she combined 

her interests in psychology and medicine to promote 

the advancement of science and treatment of children 

who have leukemia and traumatic brain injuries.

she is applying to medical school for entrance in fall 

2012.

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