Victoria Sunnergren, CFA Humanitarian of the Year

Congratulations to Art History undergraduate Victoria Sunnergren, who has been named the College of Fine Arts Humanitarian of the Year for her outstanding volunteer work in the community and the university.  Victoria has served since 2012 as a tutor and service leader at Grace Mission in Tallahassee, assisting with childcare for underprivileged children and providing dedicated after-school tutoring that made a dramatic difference in the life of an elementary-school child.   At the same time, she served as a community service liaison and special events director for the FSU Office of Servant Leadership, promoting and organizing community service events on campus – all while maintaining excellent coursework as an Honors student in the Art History program.

For the past year, Sunnergren has also served as a student leader with the FSU Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program, co-teaching classes and meeting individually to discuss study and career strategies with first-year FSU students. Sunnergren explains, “I was a student in UROP during its first year, and it had a huge impact on my time in college and future career.  I became a leader to give back to the program directors, but have realized how much my involvement also means to the students.”

The President’s Undergraduate Humanitarian of the Year Award is a prestigious award that recognizes students who exhibit tremendous commitment to service. Each college selects one student award winner; these students are recognized by President Thrasher at an awards luncheon, and each student receives a $200 donation to the charity of their choice. From this group of finalists, the student who best exemplifies commitment to service is named the President’s Undergraduate Humanitarian of the Year, and an additional $1,000 is given as a donation to the nonprofit agency of his or her choice.  The Department of Art History and the College of Fine Arts are proud to support and be represented by Victoria Sunnergen.

In the summer of 2014, Victoria interned at the Museum of Northern Arizona and conducted research on Navajo art through the help of a MRCE grant from the office of Undergraduate Research. Her “notes from the field” on that experience can be found here.