Gabrielle Michalak: Graduating from FDU Educated and Engaged

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Gabrielle Michalak with her adviser, Professor Lona Whitmarsh

MADISON, NJ (05/04/2011)(readMedia)-- Gabrielle Michalak, of Mount Laurel, NJ, will be one of over 3,000 students to graduate from Fairleigh Dickinson University on May 17, 2011, at the Izod Center. She is one of just nine seniors to complete the rigorous Honors Program at FDU's College at Florham. She presented her honors thesis on how creating art impacts individuals emotionally on April 17, 2011.

Students in the Honors Program must graduate with a 3.5 cumulative GPA and complete a thesis in their major during their senior year. Michalak chose her thesis topic because she is a psychology major and her own love of art. Her thesis was "Self-Exploration Through Expressions: Measuring the Impact of Art Making on Self-Compassion and Affect."

Drawn to FDU by a generous scholarship, Michalak said "FDU was the perfect choice for me, I love the people I have met and the experiences I have had. This is where I was supposed to be."

Michalak will leave FDU with wonderful experiences and an excellent education, but also something more: Michalak met her future husband, Ryan Newkirk, at FDU. Newkirk is a business student at FDU.

Besides being in the honors program all four years, Michalak is also an avid artist and she has displayed her work at the annual Student Art Show at FDU.

The largest private university in New Jersey, FDU is an independent, nonsectarian, coeducational, multi-campus institution. The University offers over 100 undergraduate programs, and doctoral programs in nursing practice, clinical psychology school psychology, and pharmacy; and an AACSB-accredited business school. It has campuses in Madison/Florham Park, NJ, and Teaneck/Hackensack, NJ, as well as Vanouver, BC, and Wroxton, England.

FDU's College at Florham is located on the former Vanderbilt-Twombly estate in suburban Morris County. Its focus is on providing outstanding on-campus and residential living opportunities, hands-on-learning experiences, strong graduate and professional school preparation, and customized educational options, all framed by a global perspective.