Muskingum University's Ryder Cunningham of Tuscarawas earns scholarship from Phi Sigma Iota

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Ryder Cunningham of Tuscarawas

NEW CONCORD, OH (05/02/2014)(readMedia)-- Muskingum University senior Ryder Cunningham is one of only a few students in the country to earn the Dr. Anthony S. Corbiere Scholarship from Phi Sigma Iota, the international foreign language honor society.

Cunningham, a native of Tuscarawas, Ohio, will graduate on May 10 with degrees in English and Spanish.

Most recently, he presented the paper for his senior project in his Spanish major, titled Vivir después de morir: La distorsión de géneros y la imagen de Araceli en Luna caliente por Mempo Giardinelli, to Phi Sigma Iota's annual Undergraduate Conference. During a recent trip to Bowling Green State University, where he has been accepted for graduate study in Spanish, it was suggested that the paper be submitted for publication.

Last year, Cunningham completed a semester abroad at La Universidad Blas Pascal in Córdoba, Argentina, where he studied Spanish language, Latin American literature and Argentine culture. In 2011, he studied in London.

At Muskingum, Cunningham has earned many of the university's highest academic honors. He has received the Presidential Scholarship, the Mary E. Sharp Award in Spanish, the Sarah Wilhelm Award in English and the Matilda E. Bailey Award in English.

Away from the classroom, he has served as an officer of the university's chapter of Phi Sigma Iota and is a member of the English honor society, Sigma Tau Delta, as well as Phi Kappa Phi, the nation's oldest and largest honor society for all academic disciplines.

Cunningham was nominated for the scholarship by Assistant Professor of Spanish Dr. Beth A. Butler and Professor of German Dr. Franz-Joseph Wehage. His faculty advisors are Assistant Professor of Spanish Dr. Sandra L. Alzate and Assistant Professor of English Dr. Kekoa C. Kaluhiokalani.