Ashly Bender named Outstanding Undergraduate Student in Liberal Arts 2007-2008
and Student Commencement Speaker Spring 2008

April 2008—Ashly Bender of San Antonio, a double major in English and History, has been named the Outstanding Undergraduate Student in Liberal Arts 2007-2008.  Ms. Bender will have teacher certification in both English and History when she graduates May 9. She has also been named the Spring 2008 Student Commencement Speaker, and she has received the English Department's Outstanding Senior Award. She has made the Dean's List for six semesters, and received a Liberal Arts Academic Excellence Award each year that she has attended Texas State. With a 3.79 Texas State GPA, she is on track to graduate magna cum laude.

Ms. Bender has won a host of academic awards, including a Taylor-Murphy Scholarship in History, two Ione Young Scholarships in English, a Mitte Honors Scholarship, a two-year Star of Texas Rodeo Scholarship, and a Ford Academic Excellence Scholarship. She has also taken courses in the Honors Program and studied abroad through Texas State in Ireland.

Among her professional activities, Ms. Bender has been a Supplemental Instructor in History at the Student Learning Assistance Center. She has served as office manager, writing counselor, and workshop coordinator at the campus Writing Center, as well as camp administrator for its Summer Camp in Creative Writing. In addition, she has made two conference presentations—one at an academic conference at Texas State and another at the International Writing Center Conference in Houston. In June, she will present at the European Writing Center Association Conference in Germany. Ms. Bender, who is the first in her mother's family to graduate from college, plans to pursue a master's degree in Rhetoric and Composition at New Mexico State University, with the aim of teaching writing at the high school or university level.

In recommending Ms. Bender as the Outstanding Undergraduate Student in Liberal Arts, Nancy Wilson, Director of the Writing Center, wrote, "Ashly is the student we all dream of teaching, the tutor we would all want to teach us, the student/alum we all want representing Texas State University. She is absolutely deserving of the honor of Outstanding Undergraduate Student in Liberal Arts."