Madelynn Tahsler Named Top College of the Arts Graduate at VSU

Madelynn E. Tahsler of Kennesaw, Georgia, is the recipient of the Spring 2021 President’s Award for Academic Excellence for the College of the Arts at Valdosta State University. She graduates summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art and an Honors College Certificate on May 7.

VALDOSTA — Madelynn E. Tahsler of Kennesaw, Georgia, is the recipient of the Spring 2021 President’s Award for Academic Excellence for the College of the Arts 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.

Tahsler will be recognized during VSU’s 231^st Commencement at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, May 7, at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium. She will graduate summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art and an Honors College Certificate.

“For the past four years the VSU College of the Arts has been like home to me, from the caring teachers to the community of peers,” she said. “It is an absolute honor to be given the President’s Award for Academic Excellence. I hope I can continue to bring pride to the VSU College of the Arts for years to come.”

As a student at VSU, Tahsler was an active member of the Honors Student Association, where she served as event coordinator from 2018 to 2020. She presented “Consumption of Power: The Myth of Kronos in the Art of Greece and Goya” at the 2020 Undergraduate Research Symposium and published “Empowering Ceramicists: Exploring the Relationship Between Material Variations and Visual Artifacts Within a Glaze” in the 2020 Omnino, the university’s undergraduate research journal.

Tahsler’s commitment to academic, creative, and leadership excellence resulted in her being named a Zell Miller Scholar four years in a row and earning repeated Dean’s List honors, the 2019-2020 Bernard L. Linger Memorial Art Scholarship, the 2019-2020 Jerry and Kay Jennett Art Scholarship, and the 2017-2018 Melvene D. Hardee Scholarship. She also earned first place awards in ceramics and drawing at the 2019 South Georgia College Art Competition.     

Tahsler plans to teach workshops and participate in artist residencies across the nation as she pursues her passion for the ceramic arts. She hopes to someday open a teaching studio and work in glaze research and development. She is the daughter of Mark and Jennifer Tahsler.