Erin Chapman named Senior Recognition Award recipient

If being president of the Board of Aeons, serving as a justice on the Student Body Supreme Court and being involved in the Collins Living-Learning Community is not impressive enough, senior Erin Chapman can now add the Herman B Wells Senior Recognition Award to her résumé.

Chapman is a Wells Scholar majoring in history and conflict resolution and peace studies through the Individualized Major Program in the College of Arts and Sciences.

She received the award April 10 during the IU Bloomington Honors Convocation.
It is the University’s top academic award for undergraduates, and she said she was honored to receive the award.

“I’ve had the opportunity to work with a lot of outstanding people at IU,” Chapman said. “I was surprised to have been recognized when I know so many people who are doing outstanding things.”

To receive an honor named after Herman B Wells was also a humbling experience, she said.

Chapman is involved in enacting campus policy on the Board of Aeons. One of her achievements dealt with the land around the Old Crescent near Dunn’s Woods. In a report to IU President Michael McRobbie, Chapman addressed ways it could be better utilized by the students.

“The President has started a campus-wide task force about it that is built on a lot of our recommendations,” Chapman said. “They are even going as far as to say that these buildings should be converted to student spaces.”

English professor Ray Hedin nominated Chapman for the award because of her leadership skills and commitment to social issues.

“She has a terrific academic record and she has a real history of social engagement which is entirely consistent with her major,” Hedin said. “She is a person with real integrity and intelligence.”

Chapman is also fun to be around, said criminal justice professor Ellen Dwyer, who nominated her for the award.

“She is very soft-spoken and very low-key,” Dwyer said. “She’s just a pleasure to be around and to work with, and that’s why I nominated her.”

Even Chapman’s friends recognize her dedication to her work, such as junior Ronak Shah.

“Erin is probably one of the most intrinsically motivated people that I know,” Shah said. “She finds ways to integrate some form of advocacy into her academic work and she does so without any need to network or get financial gain.”

Aside from her academic life, Chapman said she enjoys painting and attending plays.

“IU has given me so much, from my closest friends, to an outstanding education, to just a group of supportive mentors and teachers,” Chapman said. “And everything I’ve done at IU, I’ve just tried to honor that gift.”