May 31, 2015 2 min read

Gina Palefsky of Washington graduated with highest honors from the University of California, Berkeley, with a bachelor of arts in anthropology. She was selected the 2015 McCown Prize recipient, awarded annually to the most outstanding graduating anthropology student. The McCown Prize committee recognized Palefsky for her work as an osteology assistant at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, her research apprenticeships in the Skeletal Biology and Oceanic Archaeology Laboratories and her independent honors thesis research, “Seasonal Foodways and Regional Mobility in the Early Intermediate Period: A Bioarchaeological and Isotopic Investigation of Nasca Mummies from Ocucaje, Ica Valley, Peru.” Palefsky received a full-tuition scholarship to attend graduate school at the University of California, Merced Interdisciplinary Humanities doctorate program, where she will continue her research in bioarchaeology.

Alexandra Rice was named to the dean’s list at the West Virginia University School of Pharmacy. She was the professionalism chairwoman of the Lambda Kappa Sigma Professional Pharmacy Fraternity and social chairwoman of the American Pharmacists Association-ASP. Rice also is a member of Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society and the Phi Sigma Theta National Honor Society. She has been an active volunteer with local community health fairs in West Virginia and Pennsylvania and is a member of the LKS Relay for Life team and a pet placement volunteer with HomewardBoundWV. Rice is completing her pharmacy rotations. She is employed as a pharmacy intern with RiteAid Corp. Rice is a 2010 graduate of Trinity High School, where she was one of the class valedictorians. Her parents are Karl and Denise Rice of Lone Pine.