Coastal Carolina University took some time the evening of May 3 to recognize and honor distinguished and outstanding student success during Honors Convocation.

Carlie Todd, a graduating senior double majoring in history and national security studies, was named the 2018 Distinguished Undergraduate Student of the Year. Todd, from Charlotte, N.C., was a Jackson Scholar and worked as a project leader for the Athenaeum Press during her time at CCU. A research paper she wrote on the local influenza pandemic won best overall paper at the Phi Alpha Theta history conference earlier this year.

More than 50 students were recognized by their departments as the outstanding student of the year, and the Honors Program saw its largest graduating class in program history. More than 80 students will graduate from the Honors Program this weekend.

The University Honors Program is designed to encourage intellectual curiosity and ability in highly motivated and academically gifted students.

Honors students pursue a challenging and personalized education at Coastal Carolina University. They must meet graduated academic requirements and complete a senior thesis in order to earn the designation of "University Honors Program" on their transcript upon graduation from Coastal Carolina University. University Honors Program graduates earn high acceptance rates into the nation's most prestigious graduate and professional schools.

Each graduate has completed a rigorous curriculum composed of at least 24 hours of honors work, including a final honors thesis/project achieving a cumulating grade point average of at least 3.50. The cumulative GPA of the spring graduating class is 3.79.

The 2018 Distinguished Adviser of the Year was awarded to Lindsey Toper, academic adviser in the E. Craig Wall Sr. College of Business Administration, and the 2018 Distinguished Professor of the Year is Joseph Fitsanakis, associate professor of politics.

First-place winners of the Undergraduate Research Competition were also recognized. Prizes were awarded for first ($150), second ($100), and third ($50) place in four award categories.

Oral Presentations: Natural and Applied Sciences

First Place: Ashley Lynch and Sydney Brown, "Quantifying perceptions of substance abuse: Promoting positive change" (biology major and exercise and sport science major, respectively, faculty mentor: Sharon Thompson)

Oral Presentations: Humanities and Fine Arts, Business, and Education

First Place: Sydney James, "Using Experimental Archaeology as a Tool for Education" (anthropology major, faculty mentors: Aneilya Barnes and Carolyn Dillian)

Poster Presentations: Physical and Biological Sciences

First Place: Hannah Weinberg, "Skin lesion prevalence on bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) from coastal waters near Murrells Inlet, SC" (marine science major, faculty mentor: Rob Young)

Poster Presentations: Health and Behavioral Sciences and Humanities

First Place: Tavia Sturgill, "Implications of Racial Tensions on Implicit Biases in Processing Information about Different Races" (psychology major, faculty mentor: Andrew Terranova)