Jessica Newman

The end of the academic year is always a time for recognition of our students’ achievements, and this year was no different. On Friday, May 2, the U-M Linguistics community gathered in the Michigan Union to celebrate our Winter 2025 graduates. We were also joined at the festive event by family and friends of our graduates. Many members of this year’s graduating class started their college careers during the pandemic, and we are particularly proud that they persevered and flourished in spite of the disruptions caused by Covid-19. 


At the ceremony, we recognized 32 students graduating with a minor and 50 with a major in Linguistics. The graduating class also had no fewer than eight students who graduated with honors, all of whom have written honors theses based on research that they conducted under guidance by our faculty. Congratulations to all of our Winter 2025 graduates.

Amer Goel

Several of our graduating students were also honored with an award to recognize various different ways in which they excelled and contributed to our community.

  • Matt Alexander Award for the best honors thesis: This award went to Danny Dixon for their thesis titled “Sensitivity to Verb Bias as a Continuous Variable in L1 and L2”.
  • Service to the Linguistics Department: Edith Adams for her work to support undergraduate students in the Department.
  • Outstanding Pre-Speech and Hearing Senior: This award went to Sophie Hogan who served as president of our Pre-Speech & Hearing Club.
  • Outstanding Overall Minor in Linguistics: Linguistics minors are an integral part of our community. This award went to Ruthie Dignan for her support for minors, and her active participation in Department events.
  • Outstanding Overall Senior in Linguistics: This award recognizes the student who has made the overall best contribution during their time in the Department. This year’s award went to June Harkrider for her service to the Department, and overall excellent academic performance.

During the ceremony, we also heard from two members of the graduating class, Amer Goel and Jessica Newman, about their experiences as a linguistics student and about what lies ahead for the graduating class. What better way to end here than with this call to action from Amer Goel’s graduation address: