NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. - Katie Farley, a senior biochemistry major, received the Westminster College 2013 AudioVisual (AV) Award.

Farley is a daughter of Robert Farley and Stephanie Farley, Belvidere, N.J., and a graduate of Bangor Area High School.

Gary Swanson, Westminster College director of Audio Visual Services, said, "The award was created in 1999 to provide public recognition of the exceptional work provided to the campus through AV's work-study students.  A ballot of nine nominees who had received multiple nominations was reviewed by a panel of current faculty, staff, administrators and alumni. Katie's work was selected as most outstanding."

Farley began her work in AV as an AV support technician in August of 2009, and was promoted to equipment circulation manager in 2011 after serving as the assistant to that role. 

Farley completed in-depth trials and reviews of five national resource scheduling systems to determine what best met Westminster's needs, and then, working closely with the College's web developer, led a team effort to build and implement an in-house system that met the department's varied needs better than anything currently offered commercially. Farley also has dedicated a great deal of volunteer time to numerous recycling and Green AV initiatives, and was part of a team that earned the best non-science poster presentation award at the 2010 Student Symposium on the Environment.

According to Swanson, "Few presentation events occur on Westminster's campus without Katie's involvement. She has been consistently recognized by faculty, staff, and her peers for her professional courtesy, cheer, thorough research and the broad knowledge base that she brings to her work. Nominations consistently recognized her as an excellent educator who is inventive, patient, technically-savvy, and inspiring, particularly in a collaborative environment."

Swanson continued, "Her academic successes are even more impressive. She has been on the Dean's list every semester. She has a lengthy list of remarkable public presentations, twice at national conferences. She has been published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society for research completed while at the Center for Chemical Evolution regarding the self-assembly of small molecules in water, which could lead to determining how life began on the prebiotic Earth. She will be continuing her education at Yale in the bio physics, bio chemistry, and structural biology program later this year."

Farley has also been involved with Orchestra and the Campus Programming Council, as well as Chemistry Club and Omicron Kappa Sigma, an all-college honors fraternity. She graduated summa cum laude on May 18.

Farley will receive a framed certificate and bookstore gift certificate, and her name will be added to the permanent award plaque on display in the audio visual department and the department's awards web page.

Contact Swanson at (724) 946-7188 or email for additional information. 

Gary Swanson and Katie Farley