News Release
September 2003

Four seniors selected to receive Cohen Arts and Lectures Scholarships

(Bethlehem, Pennsylvania)— Four seniors will receive Cohen Arts and Lectures Scholarships for 2003-2004. They are Kristen Kuchera (Northampton, Pa.), Lisa Montafia (Coopersburg, Pa.), Christine Pukszyn (Center Valley, Pa.), and Scott Williams (Bangor, Pa.). The Cohen Arts and Lectures Scholarships are supported by the proceeds of the Cohen Arts and Lectures Series. They are awarded to high-achieving full-time Moravian College seniors. Recipients have demonstrated superior academic achievement and active participation in college or community activities.

Nominations for the scholarships come from the Director of Financial Aid, and selection is made by the Vice President for Enrollment, the Vice President for Institutional Advancement, and the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty.

Ms. Kuchera, from Northampton, is majoring in elementary education and Spanish, and is in the midst of student-teaching fifth-graders at George Wolf School in Bath. In November, she will teach first-graders at Fountain Hill School in Bethlehem. She has been an America Reads tutor for three years at William Penn School in Bethlehem and a mentor for the Learning Connection, a program for at-risk elementary students sponsored by the College. She is a member of Kappa Delta Pi and Phi Sigma Iota, national honorary societies in education and foreign languages, respectively. She was able to combine her fields in her pre-student teaching semester, giving Spanish lessons twice a week to students at Thomas Jefferson School in Bethlehem. She also has been a member of the Moravian College Dancers (following 13 years of dance study before college). She spent last summer in Seville, Spain, and hopes to teach in the Lehigh Valley after she graduates.

Ms. Montafia, from Coopersburg, used the individually designed major option at Moravian to create a degree in nutritional science, combining biology, chemistry, and biochemistry at Moravian with the core nutrition program at Cedar Crest College. She is studying for the entry exams for medical school. “Doctors today don’t know enough about nutrition,” she says. A member of the leadership society Omicron Delta Kappa and the freshman honorary Phi Eta Sigma, she also is vice president of Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority and has been vice president of the Pan-Hellenic Council. She helped create Alcohol 101, a program to encourage responsible drinking, which has been given to freshman wellness classes at Moravian and now is available on CD-ROM.

Ms. Pukszyn, from Center Valley, is part of a tiny family of Ukrainian descent that includes her cousin Jeffrey Pukszyn, an assistant football coach and strength/conditioning coordinator for the Athletics Department at Moravian. Majoring in elementary education and psychology, she, too, is student-teaching this semester, working with first-graders at Plainfield Elementary School in Pen Argyl. At the mid-semester, she will teach third grade at Fountain Hill School in Bethlehem. Possessing a 3.91 grade-point average, she is treasurer of Kappa Delta Pi, the education honorary, a member of the Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority, vice president of the Moravian College Dancers, a member of Phi Eta Sigma, and vice president of Psi Chi, the psychology honor society. In her evenings, she teaches at the Diane Medeiros Academy of Dance in Coopersburg, where she studied before coming to college. She expects to choreograph for the fourth year in a row for the Moravian College Dancers’ spring program. At this point, Christine is not sure where she will be living after graduation; however, she did state. “Pen Argyll is a wonderful school district. I’ll be sure to apply there.”

Mr. Williams, majoring in political science and minoring in business management, is from Bangor. He has been on the track team for three years. He is a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, the leadership society Omicron Delta Kappa, and Phi Alpha Theta, the history honorary. He also is a three-year member of United Student Government; this year, as vice president for operations, he helps arrange President Rokke’s informal meetings with students in campus housing. As a student advisor, he helps new students with the Learning in Common requirements of their freshman year. He has been an intern with PharmaStrat, a pharmaceutical market-research company. He is completing an honors project on energy policy and national security, focusing on the electrical grid. “I wrote the proposal in May,” he says, “and it came to the forefront of the news in August!” Talk about timing! He was able to use the Northeast blackout as a case study in his project. After graduation, he may continue in the pharmaceutical business—or he may apply to become an agent with the FBI or Secret Service. Eventually, he’d like to earn a graduate degree in political science.