Four UNL students named national Wasson Award winners

Four University of Nebraska-Lincoln students were presented with the William N. Wasson Student Leadership and Academic Award by the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association during the organization's national conference this week in Anaheim, Calif.

Presented to 24 undergraduate and 12 graduate students nationwide each year, the award is named after NIRSA's founder William N. Wasson and recognizes outstanding undergraduate and graduate students who are active participants, employees or volunteers in collegiate recreational sports departments. Criteria for the award includes self improvement through leadership, academic success, activities, volunteerism, and promoting inclusion. Since the award's inception in 1993, the Wasson Award has been presented to 53 UNL students. This year's recipients include:

* Kayla Colgrove, a nutrition and health science master's degree graduate student from Narka, Kan.

* Emily Ives, a senior communications studies major from Hawthorne, Calif.

* Robert "Cody" Kuykendall, an educational administration master's degree graduate student from Midlothian, Texas.

* Travis Tangeman, a December 2009 graduate in actuarial sciences from Papillion.

NIRSA is the leading resource for professional and student development, education and research in collegiate recreational sports. For additional information about NIRSA visit www.nirsa.org. For more information about UNL Campus Recreation, visit http://crec.unl.edu.

WRITER: Christopher Dulak