Congrats to the CASL and COB Medallion awardees

UM-Dearborn honors a select group of students each semester with the Medallion Award. Chosen by faculty from their respective colleges, graduates are recognized for their outstanding quality of character, intellect, integrity and academic record.

Three Dean’s Medallion awardees are chosen per college — 12 students overall — with one of those students selected to receive the Chancellor’s Medallion. This semester’s Chancellor’s Medallion winner comes from the College of Engineering and Computer Science. These students will be recognized during the April 27 commencement celebrations.

The awardees from the College of Education, Health and Human Services and CECS were featured in a April 11 Reporter article.

Here are the College of Arts, Sciences and Letters and the College of Business recipients.

Dean’s Medallion

Ava Abramowicz
College of Arts, Sciences and Letters

Ava Abramowicz is receiving a Bachelor of Arts with a double major in professional writing and rhetoric, and in journalism and screen studies. She also is earning double minors in film studies and English, and a certificate in writing.

Abramowicz has been involved in numerous extracurricular activities including the Honors Program, Michigan Journal, Campus Video Network, Lyceum: Literary Arts Journal and Phi Sigma Sigma. She’s also an active member of the Michigan Theory Group, associated with the Inside-Out Prison Exchange program at Macomb Correctional Facility. 

Abramowicz excelled in competitions for creative thinkers, winning second place in Honors Writing and receiving an honorable mention in the Bill Linn Fiction Prize at the annual Writing Awards. As a semi-finalist in the 2023 Accenture Innovation Challenge representing UM-Dearborn, Abramowicz contributed to designing educational outreach programs for the Smithsonian Institution. 

Her involvement in the UM-Dearborn Summer Undergraduate Research Experience program enabled her to serve as a production assistant on a documentary shoot in West Virginia, earning her the People’s Choice Award at the 2023 SURE Showcase. Collaborating with Assistant Professor of Journalism and Screen Studies Adam Sekuler, Abramowicz served on a panel about the documentary at the 2024 Pop Conference in Los Angeles. Abramowicz’s professional experience also includes an internship at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., where she worked in their Office of International Relations. She was a shadow for season eight of Netflix’s “Big Mouth,” where she listened to table reads and explored the nuances of storytelling in a digital age. 

Post-graduation, Abramowicz will travel to the Canary Islands, focusing on environmental conservation efforts to promote the welfare of dolphins and whales while conducting citizen-science research.

Lydia Fleming
College of Arts, Sciences and Letters

Lydia Fleming is receiving her Bachelor of Arts, with a double major in psychology and in criminology and criminal justice studies.

Fleming is recognized as an outstanding student of the Behavioral Sciences Department and was chosen as the Criminology and Criminal Justice Studies Undergraduate Honors Scholar. She is also a member of Psi Chi, the International Honor Society in Psychology.

As part of her passion for criminology and psychology, Fleming conducted a study on hiring biases faced by formerly incarcerated job applicants under the guidance of Associate Professor of Psychology Francine Dolins. Fleming also served as vice president and a public relations board member for UM-Dearborn’s Criminology and Criminal Justice Collective. Fleming has interned with the Department of Public Safety on campus and is currently completing her psychology honors thesis, which focuses on implicit and explicit prejudice in racist and anti-fat attitudes. Adding to her research work, Fleming also assisted with Dollins’ study on "Primates in Virtual Space" and with Associate Professor of Psychology Robert Hymes on multiple research projects related to social psychology.

Fleming served as a mental health and peer wellness educator on campus, helping create programs to educate students and address their mental health. This aligns with her work as a group specialist at Camp Starfish, a program for children with behavioral, emotional and learning challenges. Fleming also served as a student advocate for project-based learning at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute Collaborative and had a similar role as an Undergraduate Society of Psychology and Neuroscience member.

Fleming is currently applying to graduate programs in forensic and clinical psychology, while working at a trauma therapy clinic that provides evidence-based trauma therapy models to people who have faced adversity.

Asma Jamil
College of Arts, Sciences and Letters

Asma Jamil is receiving a Bachelor of Science in biology with a minor in psychology. Jamil was named the 2024 Biology Honors Scholar, which underscores her commitment and proficiency in her field.

Jamil participated in UM-Dearborn’s Summer Undergraduate Research Experience program, where she studied the effect of seed packaging on fruit dispersal patterns in eastern redbud trees. 

She worked on three research projects under the mentorship of Associate Professor of Biology David Susko. These projects investigated various aspects of the reproduction and dispersal of the redbud tree, and one of these scholarly endeavors yielded a publication in the International Journal of Plant Sciences. The American Journal of Botany is currently reviewing another, and a third manuscript is being prepared for publication.

Jamil plans to present her research at BOTANY 2024, the national annual conference for the Botanical Society of America in June. She plans to pursue a Master of Science in biology, aiming to deepen her engagement with plant sciences.

Ala’a Al-delahmawi
College of Business

Ala’a Al-delahmawi is earning a Bachelor of Business Administration in information systems management.

Among her on-campus activities, Al-delahmawi was involved in the Talent Gateway, working to enhance her soft skills and become better positioned to apply for internships. She joined the Women in Business student organization. Al-delahmawi also worked as a student assistant in the College of Engineering Advising Office.

Off-campus, Al-delahmawi interned at Rocket Central in summer 2022, working as a systems engineer. She participated in a week-long hackathon, engineering a dashboard for tracking the status of the company infrastructure. In summer 2023, Al-delahmawi worked as a developer intern with General Electric Aerospace. In addition to working on applications for aircraft engines, she served as a mentor for a student in the GE high school internship program. 

Al-delahmawi accepted a position at Consumers Energy in OP-software products that starts in May. She will contribute to providing electric and natural gas services for residents of Michigan through system and software management.

Jillian “Jay” Cormier
College of Business

Jillian “Jay” Cormier is earning a Bachelor of Business Administration in marketing, with a minor in French studies. She was inducted into Pi Delta Phi, the French honors society, served as vice president and president of the French Club, and worked as a marketing assistant for the study abroad program. Cormier enjoyed studying abroad in two different UM-Dearborn programs. She traveled to France in summer 2022 and to Italy during summer 2023.

Cormier participated in Talent Gateway challenges, earning the (M)Talent distinction. She’s been involved in small and large group meetings with InterVarsity and has mentored multiple students for the Wolverine Mentor Collective. She also has worked on campus as a supplemental instruction leader since Fall 2022, in addition to having supervisory roles with Starbucks and Fairway Farms Swim and Tennis Club

One of her supervisors noted that Cormier has a willingness to jump in to get things done: “She always led by example, showing those who worked under her that she was willing to do the same things as them, working together as a team rather than individuals getting a job done.”

Before starting a career in marketing and public relations, Cormier will travel abroad to Wales for an 11-month mission internship.

Adriana Fry
College of Business

Adriana Fry is earning a Bachelor of Business Administration in accounting and supply chain management. A member of the international business honor society Beta Gamma Sigma, Fry was the 2024 Honors Scholar for Accounting. 

On campus, Fry contributed to the Women in Business student organization as secretary, director of marketing and vice president. She served as a grader for an information systems course and has been a supplemental instruction leader for several courses. Fry works for the COB assistant dean, providing analysis of college-wide data. And she’s a member of a case competition team that will attend the Student Supply Chain Case Competition at the Midwest Decisions Sciences Conference, which starts April 12. 

Faculty said Fry is “an exceptional student and has often gone to great lengths to help and aid other students.” They also noted her integrity and high levels of critical thinking in analyzing and crafting solutions to complex real-world problems. 

Fry had multiple internships while at UM-Dearborn. In the summer of 2022, she was an accounting intern with Carhartt. In summer 2023, she was an audit intern for Plante Moran. She accepted a fulltime position as a staff accountant with Plante Moran, which will begin in August 2025. Prior to that start date, Fry will complete her M.S. in accounting at UM-Dearborn and sit for all four sections of the CPA exam.