The department congratulates Serena Witzke for her induction into the Frank Porter Graham Honor Society. This year, Witzke is one of 10 graduate students honored by the selective society for her service to the University above and beyond that required for her degree.
While at UNC, Witzke has distinguished herself not only academically but also for her service to the University. She also is the recipient of The Graduate School’s Dissertation Completion Fellowship for the 2013-2014 academic year. Directed by Sharon L. James, Witzke’s dissertation focuses on the reception of Classical works and is titled “Reading Greek and Roman New Comedy through Oscar Wilde’s Society Plays.” In addition to publishing some of her findings, Witzke has presented numerous papers at the American Philological Association’s and Classical Association of the Middle West and South’s conferences, and co-organized a panel at the 2014 APA meeting.
Additionally, Witzke has actively given back to the Carolina community. After arriving on campus, Witzke became involved with the Graduate and Professional Student Federation and the Student Congress, loving her work as a senator so much that she increasingly took on more duties within the organizations and became president of GPSF. This granted her the ability to reach out and to represent the interests of 11,000 graduate and professional students.
After completing her term, Witzke continued to serve the department and her greater community. She served on The Graduate School’s Residency Appeals Board to gain a greater knowledge of the process of gaining in-state tuition status and to help her fellow students through this process. She also acted as the graduate assistant for the National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute on Roman Comedy in the summer of 2012. Finally, she passed along her knowledge of graduate school experience by mentoring then-undergraduate Caitlin Hines, who is now in the University of Toronto’s program in Classical studies.
The Frank Porter Graham Honor Society was founded in 1990 in honor of the distinguished former president of the UNC system and state senator. All inducted students are nominated and further recommended by their departments.