Langley Chosen As Distinguished Service Award Winner
JONESBORO – Erin Langley of Beebe is one of eight outstanding students who received a 2017 Distinguished Service Award (DSA) at Arkansas State University. She was honored at a recognition dinner, Thursday, April 27, at 6 p.m. at the Cooper Alumni Center.
The DSA acknowledgement comes during A-State’s Convocation of Scholars, an annual celebration of academic achievement that includes college and departmental awards and recognition events.
The Distinguished Service Award winners are recognized as the institution’s most-outstanding graduates because of their leadership, scholarship and citizenship. Faculty, staff, advisers to student organizations and other members of the campus community submit nominations for these prestigious awards.
All of the nominees have provided countless hours of service to the community, their classmates, their departments and colleges and to Arkansas State University. A committee comprised of students, faculty, staff and past Wilson Award recipients makes the final selections.
Langley was nominated by Dr. Argelia Lorence, professor of metabolic engineering, and is a biological sciences (pre-professional) major. She will graduate in May with a grade point average of 4.00. She plans to become a veterinarian.
A member of the Honors College, her academic achievements include being selected to the A-State Chancellor’s List each semester since fall 2013. She is also a recipient of the A-State Scholar Award that includes $15,000 annually, earning it for four years of undergraduate studies for having a 4.311 high school GPA and a 31 ACT composite score.
In May, Langley will travel to Italy as part of the Honors College Taste of Italy study abroad program and will earn an additional three hours of academic credit.
She worked as an intern in the behavioral husbandry department at the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere for 10 weeks in the summer of 2016. While there, she was responsible for the care of a variety of animals for the zoo.
In addition, she worked in the undergraduate research fellowship; her thesis was titled, “Genetic Analysis of Adult and Juvenile Eastern Bluebirds in Northeast Arkansas.” Langley also was a contributing author to the publication “Functional Plant Biology,” on an experiment that tested the effect of drought (water limitation) on wild type Arabidopsis, a small flowering plan related to cabbage used in the study of plant biology.
She works with many organizations and is involved with numerous projects on the Arkansas State campus, including serving as resident assistant in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Den Hall, the Honors College Association (president in 2016-17), and helped create the Give-Back gala to benefit the Jonesboro Salvation Army and incorporated a university-wide clothing drive.
Langley also served as vice-president of the Honors College Association in 2015-16 and initiated volunteerism at the NEA Humane Society project, wrote letters to military personnel through Operation Gratitude, participated in the campus food pantry holiday basket program, sponsored Angel Tree Children, participated in the A-State Polar Plunge for Special Olympics of NEA, made City Youth Ministries baskets, volunteered at the Miracle League of Jonesboro and held an auction for the Arkansas Children’s Hospital.
She was also part of the founding council of the A-State United Way and worked with Volunteer A-State as a member of the executive board. An honors ambassador, Langley is a member of the Pre-Vet Club and worked the St. Jude Children’s Hospital “Up Til’ Dawn” project for three years.
Langley is a member of the A-State College Republicans, Chi Alpha Student Ministries, a clarinet player in the A-State Sound of the Natural State Marching Band, a member of the 2016 Homecoming Court, Phi Kappa Phi honor society and the National Society of Collegiate Scholars.
