Tess Rhian of Carmel Recognized at Muhlenberg College 2021 Honors Convocation

The Muhlenberg College Honors Convocation, which was held this year at 8 p.m. on Thursday, May 13, is a formal academic ceremony designed to honor and celebrate leadership and scholarly excellence and achievement.

Student honoree Tess Rhian of Carmel received The Class of 1969 Music Award.

WATCH: Video of the full 2021 Honors Convocation virtual ceremony

READ: Muhlenberg College 2021 Honors Convocation article

Jill Stephen, professor of English, delivered the faculty address, titled "We're Building the Ship as We Sail It." In her message to the students, faculty and staff who were honored, she encouraged students to reflect on their time at Muhlenberg and to think back on what strategies they utilized to remain hopeful and inspired.

"I wish to celebrate not just the knowledge you've acquired, but the habits of mind, the ways of thinking that all your hard work as students has been teaching you," said Stephen. "As a teacher of poetry, I'm drawn to a particular way of using words: metaphor. Simply put, metaphor is a way of thinking by analogy. We come to understand a thing that we can't quite name by noticing something else that seems to embody it. Paying attention to metaphors helps us to recognize not just what we know, but how we have come to know it...May we relish still, cherishing the things we care most about. May we find the language we need, especially the metaphors that will guide us."

Faculty were named recipients of The Class of 1932 Research Professorship, The Donald B. Hoffman Research Fellowship, The Robert C. Williams Faculty Award, The Ruth and Joel Spira Prize for Distinguished Teaching, The Award for the Outstanding Advisor to First-Year Students and The Faculty Rising Scholars Awards.

Staff were honored with The Chairman's Award, the Hamre Prize and the Student Government Award.

Founded in 1848, Muhlenberg is a highly selective, private, four-year residential, liberal arts college located in Allentown, Pennsylvania, approximately 90 miles west of New York City. With an undergraduate enrollment of approximately 2,200 students, Muhlenberg College is dedicated to shaping creative, compassionate, collaborative leaders through rigorous academic programs in the arts, humanities, natural sciences and social sciences as well as selected pre-professional programs, including accounting, business, education and public health. The College is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. A member of the Centennial Conference, Muhlenberg competes in 22 varsity sports.