ODK 2012 Senior of the Year Award Given to Two Pitt Graduating Seniors

PITTSBURGH—University of Pittsburgh 2012 graduates Kelvin Luu, a bioengineering major in the Swanson School of Engineering with a minor in chemistry in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, and Molly Stieber, a double major in political science and philosophy in the Dietrich School with a global studies certificate from the University Center for International Studies, have been named the 2012 Omicron Delta Kappa (ODK) Seniors of the Year. The award was announced at Pitt’s annual Honors Convocation in February.

Founded in 1914 at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va., ODK is an honorary society that recognizes students who maintain a high standard of leadership in collegiate activities. The award is given to students who possess and exhibit outstanding leadership qualities in service to the University. 

Luu, a Garfield Heights, Ohio, native, has been involved in numerous leadership positions at the University, including resident assistant and program coordinator for the Resident Student Association (RSA), where he worked with honors freshman as part of a Living Learning Community to develop a healthy residence-hall community. As a public relations chair in the RSA, Luu worked with other executive board members to improve life on campus for all resident students. Luu also served as a peer tutor to freshman engineering students in the Swanson School. 

A member of the Student Alumni Association, Premedical Organization for Minority Students, and the Pittsburgh Outdoors Club, Luu also performed many community service projects, including cofounding the Holiday on the Hill donation drive for the American Red Cross in Pittsburgh and volunteering as a patient navigator at UPMC Shadyside Hospital and for Pitt’s annual Make a Difference Day. 

Luu has participated in several research opportunities at Pitt, including the pursuit of research for the University’s Musculoskeletal Research Center and the Pittsburgh Tissue Engineering Initiative. A recipient of the University Honors College full-tuition scholarship and Swanson School of Engineering Scholarship, he is a member of the Golden Key International Honor Society, the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, and the Alpha Epsilon Delta fraternity. Luu also was on the Dean’s List each semester of his undergraduate career.

Stieber, from Lititz, Pa., has shown her commitment to the University through a host of leadership activities, including serving as president of the 2011 Student Government Board (SGB), a position in which she oversaw an office of approximately 40 elected and appointed student representatives. As an SGB board member and business manager in 2010, Stieber founded the University of Pittsburgh Book Center Student Advisory Committee and was integral in the eventual introduction of electronic textbooks at the University. Through her position as SGB president, Stieber became involved in student advocacy regarding Harrisburg’s proposed cuts to the University’s state appropriations for fiscal year 2012. She is cofounder of the Pennsylvania Association of State-Related Students, which comprises students from Pitt, Penn State, Temple, and Lincoln universities. She was asked to testify before the state Senate’s budget committee, which held a hearing in Alumni Hall last September. She also was invited to introduce Vice President Joseph Biden on his visit to the University in November.

Stieber has served as director of career development for the Chi Omega sorority, along with memberships in the University’s Reaccreditation Committee, Board of Trustees Student Affairs Committee, and Budget and Planning Committee.

A 2010 recipient of the “Home is Where the Heart Is” award from local advocacy group Community Human Services Corporation, where, since 2009, she participated in planning the organization’s largest fundraiser, “Sleep-In for the Homeless.” Stieber’s community services also includes membership in the Young Professional Outreach Committee for the non-profit organization Global Solutions Pittsburgh and volunteering for the Adopt-a-Block Oakland program, part of the Keep it Clean, Oakland project. 

In 2011, Stieber traveled to Prague, Czech Republic, as a delegate for the United States in the weeklong International Youth Leadership Conference featuring 71 other delegates from 26 countries. In 2010, she traveled to Hubei, China, as part of the University’s study-abroad program to study the Chinese language and culture. She also has worked as an undergraduate teaching assistant for Arabic 2 in the Department of Less Commonly Taught Languages. Stieber is a member of the Outside the Class Curriculum Honor Society and Dean’s List honoree.

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