Belmont’s SGA Grants First Beacon of Excellence Awards

Top: Frank Reed, Beth Bowman, Zeen Ari, courtesy of Frank Reed; Bottom: Olivia Patterson, Peter Kuryla, Wiley Cooper, courtesy of Wiley Cooper

On Friday, Belmont’s Student Government Association presented its first Beacon of Excellence awards at its final general meeting for the semester. 

The Beacon of Excellence award comes as a result of SB-25, written by freshman Wiley Cooper, with the help of the Campus Affairs Committee. The bill allows SGA to recognize two members of Belmont’s faculty and staff with an award at the end of each semester.  

Winners exemplify the university’s core values and are champions for helping students flourish in all manners of life and adversity. 

“We have an award where we recognize a senator in our own body, where we recognize a student, but we didn’t have a recognition of faculty or staff. Within SGA, it’s a first-of-its-kind award,” said Cooper. 

This semester, SGA present the awards to Beth Bowman, assistant dean in the College of Science and Mathematics, and Peter Kuryla, associate professor in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences. 

Bowman is a Belmont alum who returned to campus after earning her Ph.D. in Biochemistry, Cell and Developmental Biology at Emory University. 

In her role as a pre-health adviser, Bowman forms the same types of one-on-one relationships with students as she did with faculty during her previous years at Belmont.  

“Now I get to do all the stuff that I enjoyed as a student. I get to care for students the way that I felt cared for when I was here,” said Bowman. 

SGA President Zeen Ari and President-elect Frank Reed both nominated Bowman for this accolade.  

Kuryla has worked in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences since 2008 teaching a variety of courses concerning history and civics. He helped develop a major in history and public policy, which became available to students in the Fall of 2023. 

“There are a lot of university awards that come from lots of different places, but I think it’s cool to be among the first of something SGA did. I’m super flattered,” said Kuryla. 

He was nominated by Cooper and SGA Vice President Olivia Patterson. 

Cooper is thrilled to make faculty recognition a more integrated part of SGA’s mission. 

“It’s the goal of SGA to represent students, and in doing so, we need to recognize that our faculty and staff need more appreciation,” said Cooper. 

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This article was written by Ria Skyer