JD
Juanita Diaz
  • zoology
  • Class of 2016
  • Cincinnatus, NY

Juanita Diaz receives SUNY Chancellor's Award for Student Excellence

2016 Apr 5

SUNY Oswego zoology major Juanita Diaz of Cincinnatus has received the 2016 SUNY Chancellor's Award for Student Excellence, the highest student recognition through the State University system.

The award, presented April 5 in a ceremony in Albany, honors students who have best demonstrated and been recognized for their integration of academic excellence with other aspects of their lives, including leadership, campus involvement and community service

Diaz is a veteran of field and lab work in evolutionary paleoecology, studying Late Devonian mass extinction. The senior recently made a presentation on her independent study project to the Geological Society of America's Northeastern Section conference. President and former treasurer of Pride Alliance, she serves on the college's Diversity and Inclusion Committee and as a resident assistant, and formerly was a member of State Singers -- all while excelling in the classroom. Her volunteerism has included summers helping with the Hugh O'Brien Youth Leadership Conference.

"I plan to get my Ph.D. in zoology or ecology and evolutionary biology as I would like to be a professor and work on answering evolutionary questions using phylogenomic methods," Diaz said.

Admission to SUNY Oswego is competitive. U.S. News Media Group counts SUNY Oswego among the top public regional universities in the North for 2016, and the Princeton Review includes Oswego in its 2016 college guidebook "The Best Northeastern Colleges" and in its national list of "Green Colleges."

A 155-year-old comprehensive college in the State University of New York system, Oswego enrolls about 8,000 students in its College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; School of Business; School of Communication, Media and the Arts; and School of Education.

Visit oswego.edu for more information