Springfield, Ohio - Judy Spanel of Springfield was honored with the Excellence in Liberal Studies Award by Wittenberg University's School of Community Education (SCE).

Spanel, a nurse at Mercy Medical Center, is a senior in SCE's Health Care Leadership Program. With a 3.9 GPA, she has excelled at the multiple life tasks that Wittenberg's adult evening and weekend students undertake: spouse, parent (of two teenage Eagle Scout sons), employee, and student in a challenging curriculum.

The presentation was part of the school's Honors Reception. Also included in the program was the induction of eight students into the national adult honorary society, Alpha Sigma Lambda, and the first eight adult students accepted into the University Honors Program.

Jen Boggs, a junior studying education in the daytime program, spoke on behalf of the honorary inductees. "I have always felt equal to the traditional students - not stigmatized at all," she said. "In the education department the professors' doors are always open. That's the way it should be because here you can build the dreams you've always wanted."

The ceremony signaled the close of a very successful year for Wittenberg's LEAD adult education program, where enrollment has grown 57 percent since 1999. In his remarks, SCE Dean Paul Parlato attributed the growth to such initiatives as simplified tuition and registration policies for adult day enrollment, SCE's Adult Access Award program, and the innovative @witt/@home format for evening and weekend courses that combine classroom and on-line learning.

Parlato said growth has been even greater in Wittenberg's Post Secondary Options program, which allows exemplary high school students to take college courses. Enrollment has almost tripled in three years, with 81 students representing 15 high schools from as far away as Logan and Madison counties.

It was a good year for SCE students as well since their mean grade point average (GPA) was almost half a letter grade higher than Wittenberg's traditional student body. The 34 students on the Dean's List for the fall semester was also the largest number ever for the school.

On the dean's list for summer and fall were: Lisa D'Allesandris, Beavercreek; Sondra Iiames, Casstown; Stalo Monti-Pouagare, Centerville; Susan Schwarz, Enon; Shelley Gotcher, Fairborn; W. David Walton, Jamestown; Mary Dalhamer, New Carlisle; Myke Cooney, Saint Paris; Wm. Jeff Taylor Jr., Regina Timmons, South Charleston; Sarah Acton, Jennifer Boggs, Patrick Casey, Michael Crotty, Emil DeMusz, Tracy Gregory-Brown, Gregory Groeber, M. Susan Jackson, Marilyn Kissell, Sharon Koster, Catherine Kuss, Montserrat Lau, Jeanne Martin, Melissa Montag, Toni Naill, Timothy Nave, Tonia Nelson, Lehan Peters, W. Scott Powell, Roberta Rowland-Raybold, Doug Schantz, Gina Seay, Andrea Sherrock, Judy Spanel, Tonyae Stacy, Teresa Tschaenn, Shannon Wahl, Colleen Walters, Janna Woodason, Springfield; Steven Schoonover, Urbana; Geneva Thoman, West Liberty.

Accepted into the University Honors Program were: Myke Cooney, Saint Paris; Christine Bobst, Tracy Gregory-Brown, W. Scott Powell, Shannon Wahl and Colleen Walters, Springfield; Stephanie and Steven Schoonover, Urbana.

The newly inducted members of Alpha Sigma Lambda were: Stalo Monti-Pouagare, Centerville; Sarah Action, Jennifer Boggs, Patrick Casey, Tracy Gregory-Brown, Montserrat Lau, Shannon Wahl, Springfield; Steven Schoonover, Urbana.