Angelo State University

Angelo State University Rambelles softball players Laylonna Applin of Stamford and Cheyenne Floyd of Liberty Hill have been named to the 2025 National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Player and Pitcher of the Year Watch List heading into the second half of the season. Applin, a sophomore infielder, is batting .476 this season and leads the Lone Star Conference in slugging percentage (.981), OPS (1.536) and doubles (13). She is also second in the LSC in hits (50), home runs (10), RBI (43) and stolen bases (15). The health science professions major has only struck out six times in 118 plate appearances. Floyd, a senior pitcher, is 14-5 this season with a 1.74 ERA and one save. She has thrown four shutouts and two no-hitters, and she has notched 96 strikeouts in 88.2 innings, holding opponents to a .175 batting average. The coaching, sport, recreation and fitness administration student was a NFCA All-American last season. The NFCA Player and Pitcher of the Year winners will be announced May 30. See more details at angelosports.com and on the NFCA website.

Blythe Meacham of Frisco, a junior in the Angelo State University Honors Program, won the top prize for her research presentation at the recent 2025 Great Plains Honors Council (GPHC) Conference in Denton. An English major, Meacham earned a Dennis Boe Award for exceptional research and writing by an undergraduate honors student. She was presented a plaque and a $200 cash prize, and her work will be published in The Windmill, a scholarly journal featuring undergraduate research. Only three Dennis Boe Awards are presented annually to undergraduate students who are juniors or seniors. Meacham's oral presentation and paper detailed her research project titled "Beyond the Female Gothic: Wild Women in Charlotte Dacre's Zofloya and Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights." See more details at angelo.edu/news.

Six members of the Angelo State University Handball Club brought home gold and silver medals from the 72nd U.S. Handball Association (USHA) National Collegiate Championships held recently in Portland, Oregon. For the ASU women's team, Kelly Salisbury, an interdisciplinary studies major from San Angelo, won the Gold Medal in the Women's C Singles Division. She then teamed with her twin sister, Kimberly Hostetter, an agricultural science and leadership major, to win the Gold Medal in the Women's C Doubles Division. Taigan Rivers, an exercise science major from San Angelo, and Kinzi Jo Leon, an animal science major from Austin, won the Gold Medal in the Women's B Doubles Division. For the ASU men's team, Cade Whitley, a border and homeland security major from Tioga, won the Silver Medal in the Men's B3 Singles Division. Logan Leto, a biology major from San Angelo, won the Silver Medal in the Men's C1 Singles Division. Additionally, Leon won the Women's Most Improved Player Award, and Salisbury earned the Women's Spirit of Handball Award for her competitiveness, sportsmanship and team spirit. Competing against teams from 30 universities in the U.S., Canada and Ireland, the ASU Handball Club finished third in the Combined Open Division, with the ASU women's team taking third place in the Women's Open Division and the ASU men's team placing fourth in the Men's Open Division. See more details at angelo.edu/news.

Angelo State University conferred 645 undergraduate and graduate degrees on 641 graduates during the 2024 fall commencement exercises on Dec. 14, 2024, at the Junell Center/Stephens Arena in San Angelo, Texas. The full list of fall 2024 ASU graduates is available at angelo.edu/commencement.

Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas, has announced the students achieving the Dean's List for the 2024 fall semester. To be eligible for the ASU Dean's List, full-time undergraduate students must maintain a 3.25 or better grade point average on a 4.0 scale. The complete fall 2024 Dean's List is available at angelo.edu/commencement.

Angelo State University's chapter of the Phi Kappa Phi (PKP) national honor society recently inducted its fall 2024 class of 62 new student members during a special initiation ceremony in the Houston Harte University Center. PKP is the nation's oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for students in all academic disciplines. Invitations to join PKP are extended to juniors in the top 7.5% of their class, and to seniors and graduate students in the top 10% of their class. PKP is considered one of the nation's most prestigious academic honorary societies along with Phi Beta Kappa, which recognizes majors in the arts and sciences, and Sigma Xi, which honors majors in the sciences. Dr. Gina Shipley, assistant professor of curriculum and instruction, is ASU's PKP chapter president. The complete list of inductees, listed by hometown and major, is available at angelo.edu/news.

The Angelo State University Trumpet Ensemble has been selected to compete in the Ryan Anthony Memorial Trumpet Competition at the 48th Annual International Trumpet Guild (ITG) Conference May 28 - June 1 in Anaheim, Calif. Students from top music schools and conservatories across the U.S. and around the world applied to take part in the competition by submitting recordings in Solo, Jazz, Ensemble and Youth categories. The ASU Trumpet Ensemble was selected to compete in the Ensemble category based on its submitted recording of "Seven for Five" by Erik Morales, under the direction of Dr. John Irish, professor of music. Also selected to compete are students from throughout the U.S. and from national academies in Canada, China, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Portugal, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. See more details at angelo.edu/news.

Angelo State University honored the 2024 Outstanding Graduate Students from each if its five academic colleges during the recent Graduate Research Symposium and Awards Ceremony in the Houston Harte University Center. The 19 honorees were nominated by faculty in their respective academic departments, and each received a certificate of recognition. Three additional superlative awards were also conferred. The complete list of honorees is available at angelo.edu/news.

Joe Chaney of Daphne, Ala., a senior political science major at Angelo State University, has been selected for the ASU Department of Political Science and Philosophy's 2024 Government and Public Service Internship Program in Washington, D.C. Chaney will spend this fall semester working as an intern for U.S. Congressman August Pfluger, who represents the 11th District of Texas that includes San Angelo. During his internship, Chaney will live at the Texas Tech House with other interns from Texas Tech University and will receive an $8,000 stipend to help defray the costs of living in Washington, D.C. He will also earn six ASU credit hours in political science. A former foster care youth, Chaney is a member of ASU's Fostering Ram Success program. He previously completed a successful internship in the San Angelo City Attorney's Office, and he is also active in the Political Science Association and Kappa Sigma fraternity. A regular on the ASU Dean's List, he is scheduled to graduate in December with his Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in political science with minors in English and history. See more details at angelo.edu/news.

Angelo State has announced the recipients of the Presidential Award and Distinguished Student Awards for the Class of 2024 that will graduate during spring commencement ceremonies May 10-11. Christian Bell, a biology major from Midland, has been selected to receive the 2024 Presidential Award as the top graduate in his class, while five other ASU graduating seniors have been selected for 2024 Distinguished Student Awards from their respective academic colleges. The Distinguished Student Award recipients are: Damian Macias of Vancourt - Archer College of Health and Human Services Katherine Spitzer of El Paso - College of Arts and Humanities Delaney Grimes of San Angelo - College of Education Tressa Reading of Uvalde - College of Science and Engineering Clayton Edmiston of Christoval - Norris-Vincent College of Business. ASU's Academic Excellence Committee hosted an awards ceremony April 29 in the Houston Harte University Center to honor all the award recipients and nominees. Each was presented a recognition plaque by ASU President Ronnie Hawkins Jr. See more details at angelo.edu/news.

The Angelo State University Handball Club won the inaugural Doug Randolph Cup at the recent Spring 2024 Aggieland Classic at Texas A&M University in College Station. The Doug Randolph Cup competition featured a round-robin format with the ASU team facing off in head-to-head matchups against teams from the University of Texas, Texas A&M and Missouri State University. In its three matches, the ASU Handball Club outscored UT, 150-43, outscored Texas A&M, 111-97, and outscored MSU, 139-78, for a total of 400 points to finish at the top of the standings. Individually for ASU: Aoife Holden went 3-0 in women's singles (90 points) Taigan Rivers & Kinzi Jo Leon went 2-1 in women's doubles (83 points) Austin Colwell & Israel Lopez Jr. went 2-1 in men's doubles (76 points) Jonathan White & Dylan Whitley went 1-2 in men's doubles (62 points) Diarmuid Mulkerrins went 3-0 in men's singles (89 points) The new tournament is named in honor Doug Randolph, an avid handball player and founder of the Lubbock-based Randolph Foundation for Higher Education Inc. See more details at angelo.edu/news.

Selah Rose Kjar of San Angelo, a senior music major at Angelo State University, has earned a 2023-24 Presser Undergraduate Scholar Award from the Presser Foundation in Philadelphia that includes a $3,000 scholarship and the title of Presser Scholar. The Presser Undergraduate Scholar Award annually celebrates students, selected by their music faculty during their final year of study, "who have achieved a high level of music and academic excellence, demonstrated leadership and contributed to an inclusive community." It is the most prestigious undergraduate honor in music at Angelo State. Kjar will graduate from ASU in May with her Bachelor of Music degree with all-level teacher certification. Her primary instrument is clarinet, and she has performed as a member of the ASU Ram Band, ASU Wind Ensemble, ASU Symphony Orchestra, ASU Symphonic Band and ASU Woodwind Ensembles. She has also performed on her secondary instruments, trombone and tuba, with the ASU Symphonic Band. Upon graduating from ASU, Kjar will take up the post of head band director for the Eden Consolidated Independent School District. See more details at angelo.edu/news.

Angelo State University has released the results of the Student Government Association (SGA) election, with 14 students selected by the student body to serve as SGA officers for the 2024-25 academic year. The new officers include 12 undergraduate students and two graduate students. History major Kameron Wiese of Cranfills Gap has been elected president, and business major Christopher "Clay" Loper of Temple has been elected vice president. The other 12 electees will serve as senators. More details on the SGA are available at angelo.edu/sga.

More than 150 Angelo State University student-athletes have made the Lone Star Conference Commissioner's Honor Roll for the 2023 spring semester. To be eligible, student-athletes must have at least a 3.30 grade point average (GPA) for the semester and be on the current roster. ASU's 156 honorees include 58 student-athletes with a perfect 4.0 GPA. See more details at angelosports.com and on the LSC website.

Kaylen Shetler of Chesapeake, Va., a junior in the Angelo State University Honors Program, has received the 2022-23 Robert A. Kilmarx Award for the Best Military, Intelligence or National Security Strategic Analysis Paper from the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress (CSPC) in Washington, D.C. An intelligence and analysis/mathematics double-major, Shetler won the Kilmarx Award for her paper titled "Defining Weapons of Mass Destruction in a New Age of Cyberwarfare." The award also includes a $1,000 prize and publication of her paper in the CSPC online anthology, The Fellows Review, this summer. Shetler submitted her paper as the centerpiece of her 2022-23 CSPC Presidential Fellowship, and she is one of only five students out of a cohort of 48 Fellows to be selected for an award. See more details at angelo.edu/news.

Angelo State University honored its 2022 Outstanding Graduate Students during the annual Graduate Research Symposium and Awards Ceremony on April 29. Students representing 22 different graduate degree programs and all five of ASU's academic colleges were recognized during the ceremony. The complete list of honorees, listed by their hometowns, colleges and degree programs, is available at angelo.edu/news.

Congratulations to Halli Hanna of Wall on her first solo flight! Halli is one of our Commercial Aviation students, and on Aug. 13 she became the first ASU Ram to solo in one of our newly badged DA20 aircraft. Check out the Angelo State logo on the tail! This picture is Halli taxiing for her first solo flight. See more details about our Bachelor of Commercial Aviation degree at angelo.edu.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has appointed Keaghan Holt of Seguin as the student regent for the Texas Tech University System (TTU System) Board of Regents for the 2021-22 academic year. Holt is an undergraduate student pursuing a degree in health science professions at Angelo State University. She becomes the 16th student to serve on the TTU System Board of Regents and the fourth from ASU. She will serve a one-year term, effective as of June 1, and her first Board of Regents meeting will take place Aug. 5-6 in Lubbock. See the full story at angelo.edu/news.

Olivia Hessock of Abilene, a freshman management major at Angelo State University, has been named the 2020-21 Girl Scout of the Year by the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6873 in Abilene. Hessock's latest ongoing service project could last for quite a while. Assisted by her church, Zion Lutheran, and other helpers, she taught children at All God's Children after-school day care to construct tied fleece blankets for children in Child Protective Services. See the full story on the Abilene Reporter-News website.