President Marc Johnson praised the effort by all individuals on campus over the past year during Tuesday's Honor the Best Ceremony in the Joe Crowley Student Union's Glick Ballrooms, noting that "The accomplishments and achievements by our employees and students over the past 12 months have been outstanding. It's been a superb testament to the collective talent, creativity and dedication of our award recipients who are gathered here today."

Johnson added: "In fact, all of the people in this room are a vivid illustration of why we are a quality institution. Whenever a college campus is blessed the way we are with such a deep collection of talent, with individuals with such intense personal drive to be the best and to do the work that matters, there is no denying the results."

"Honor the Best," held each spring for more than 40 years as a way for the University to acknowledge the award recipients of the academic year, included announcement of emeriti faculty, awardees of the Distinguished Faculty and Distinguished Service Awards, plus many other honors.

They included:

Emeriti Faculty: Dawn Arnold, John Bell, Robert Blesse, Robert Bruce Bannister, Michael Collopy, Michael Coray, Livia D'Andrea, Katherine DeBoer, Marsha Dupree, Neal Ferguson, Gary Haynes, James Henson, George "Gus" Hill, Piotr Hoffman, Kenneth Hull, Rosemary McCarthy, Robert Newbury, Kenneth Peak, Melanie Perish, George Perrault, Fritz Roske, Lisa Shevenell, JoAnne Skelly, Tommy Thompson, Carmelo Urza, Kimberly Zaski.

Foundation Professors: Indira Chatterjee, James Kenyon, Mark Nichols.

Cavanaugh Community Volunteer Award: Jahahi Mazariego.

Distinguished Classified Employee Award: Michael Maskaly.

Distinguished Faculty: Phillip C. Boardman.

Distinguished Outreach Faculty: Marjorie Matocq.

Distinguished Service: Yaakov L. Varol.

Established Innovator Award: W. Patrick Arnott.

F. Donald Tibbitts Distinguished Teacher Award: Lynda R. Wiest, Linda Curcio.

Faculty Senate Award for Outstanding Service: Patricia Ellison.

Graduate Academic Advisor Award: Jane Detweiler.

Henry Albert Senior Public Service Award: Parker Cole, Ivon Padilla-Rodriguez, Madeleine Poore, Justin Rashidi.

Outstanding Graduate Student: Joan Lynam.

Outstanding Graduate Student Researcher: Mehrdad Majidi.

Outstanding Researcher of the Year: Andrei Derevianko.

Outstanding Senior Award: Nolan Nicholson, Abby Feenstra.

Outstanding Undergraduate Research Faculty Mentor: Vaidyanathan Subramanian.

Phi Kappa Phi Award: Nathaniel Foote, Taylor Seidler.

ROTC Governor's Award: Sarah Conkey.

ROTC President's Award: Sarah Conkey.

Regents' Academic Advisor Award - Undergraduate: Erin Stiles.

Regents' Creative Activities Award: Emma Sepulveda.

Regents' Rising Researcher Award: Eelke Folmer.

Regents' Scholar Award, Graduate: Augustus Merwin.

Regents' Scholar Award, Undergraduate: Ivon Padilla-Rodriguez.

Student Employee of the Year: Matthew Wetzell.

Thornton Peace Prize: Reno Justice Coalition.

University Global Engagement Award: Yvonne Stedham.

Undergraduate Advising Award: Erin Stiles.