Larissa Assam receives SUNY Chancellor's Award for Student Excellence

2014 Apr 10

SUNY Oswego biology major Larissa Assam of Douala, Cameroon, has received the 2014 SUNY Chancellor's Award for Student Excellence, the highest student recognition through the State University system.

The award, presented April 2 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, which may include leadership, campus involvement, athletics, career achievement, community service or creative and performing arts.

President and founder of the Minority Association of Pre-health Students' Oswego chapter, Assam completed an internship at Oswego Hospital, did research in Calcutta as part of the college's Global Laboratory, job-shadowed physicians as a peer leader with CSTEP Health Connections and was named Peer Educator of the Year in 2012 by the Oswego chapter of the National Alliance of Black School Educators.

Assam also served as a tutor in the Office of Learning Services, a Laker Leader orientation guide, teaching assistant and as director of programming for the African Student Organization.

"I will be starting medical school this August at SUNY Upstate," Assam said.

Four other SUNY Oswego students joined Assam as recipients of the Chancellor's Award for Student Excellence: Kyle Brayton of Fulton, Lindsay King of Troy, Nicole Leader of Baldwinsville and Rhiannon Peshniak of Hopewell Junction.

About SUNY Oswego

Admission to SUNY Oswego is competitive. U.S. News Media Group counts SUNY Oswego among the top public regional universities in the North for 2014, and the Princeton Review includes Oswego in its 2014 college guidebook "The Best Northeastern Colleges," as well as its 2014 list of "best value" colleges and universities nationally.

A 153-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.