Daniella Barta Named VSU College of Humanities and Social Sciences Top Graduate

VALDOSTA — Daniella Barta of Iszkaszentgyörgy, Hungary, is the recipient of the Spring 2019 President’s Award for Academic Excellence for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Valdosta State University.

The President’s Award for Academic Excellence is presented to the graduating student with the highest grade point average in each of VSU’s six colleges — Harley Langdale Jr. College of Business Administration, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, College of the Arts, James L. and Dorothy H. Dewar College of Education and Human Services, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, and College of Science and Mathematics.

VSU will celebrate its 227^th commencement on Friday, May 10, and Saturday, May 11.

Barta will serve as the official banner carrier for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences during the undergraduate commencement ceremony at 7 p.m. on Saturday, May 11, on the VSU Front Lawn. She will graduate summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in psychology and a Bachelor of Arts in French.

“To be named the top graduate of my college fills me with joy,” she said. “I am an international student who had to deal with the language barrier. Receiving this award is something very special for me, something I will never forget and will always be proud of.”

As a student at VSU, Barta played for the women’s tennis team. She was a member of the Society of International Students, where she served as vice president from 2017 to 2019; the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, where she served as a voice for her tennis teammates from 2017 to 2019; and Pi Delta Phi: The National French Honor Society. She volunteered in the Department of Psychology, Counseling, and Family Therapy’s Industrial-Organizational Research Lab and with Alzheimer’s Caregiver Time-Out of Valdosta. She presented research on the psychological effects in sports during the 2019 Undergraduate Research Symposium.   

Barta’s commitment to academic, service, research, and athletic excellence resulted in her being recognized on the Dean’s List every semester and earning the 2018 and 2019 Student-Athlete Academic Award, the 2019 Excellence in the Achievement of the French Language and Francophone Cultures Book Award, the 2017 and 2018 Student-Athlete Academic Spotlight Award, and a full tennis scholarship.  

Barta plans to pursue a master’s degree in industrial-organizational psychology and work in the field of human resources or consulting. She is the daughter of Daniel and Anca Barta.