Will Carspecken, a senior biochemistry and molecular biology major, was named a member of the USA Today 2007 All-USA College Academic Second Team, the paper reported Feb. 15.
He is the fifth DU student in the last six years to be named to one of the newspaper’ s All-USA college academic teams, which honor full-time undergraduate students who excel in scholarship and community service.
Carspecken is one of 20 students nationally named to the second team. Twenty students were named to the first and third teams, as well.
A Boettcher Scholar, Goldwater Scholar, member of Phi Beta Kappa and a 2006 Rhodes Scholarship finalist, Carspecken founded and chairs the DU HIV/AIDS Awareness Committee and has served in a medical capacity locally and abroad.
Carspecken actively volunteers with the Colorado AIDS Project and served with the Spanish Red Cross, Mother Teresa’ s Home for the Dying and Destitute, and Nutrivida, a grassroots nutritional clinic. He spent summer 2004 in Cochabamba, Bolivia, where he assisted with medical procedures and created a public health education program that continues today.
“I think college is about broadening one’ s perspective and contributing back to society while having the opportunity to learn,” Carspecken says. “I’ m a firm believer in action above words, and what I’ve done through my involvement, I hope, reflects the kind of person I am.”
Previous DU students to win the USA Today honor are: John Bales, statistics, 2006; Justin Kidd, international studies and French, 2003; Leanne Komorowski, biology, 2003; and Robby Shelton, molecular biology, 2002.