Mark Dlugash '08 Named 
Academic All-Star by USA Today

by Stacey Kutish
02/14/2008

Mark Dlugash '08

Mark Dlugash '08, an Honors psychology and education major from New Rochelle, N.Y., is one of 20 college students from across the country to be named to this year's All-USA College Academic Team by USA Today. The program honors undergraduates who not only excel in scholarship but also extend their intellectual abilities beyond the classroom to benefit society.

Mark Dlugash co-founded an organization that recently completed an anti-malaria campaign to raise awareness about malaria in Uganda and funds for prevention. The group is now working to create a sustainable bednet program in the Acholi Quarter, a slum in Kampala, Uganda.  In addition, he trains counselors for campus workshops in sexual assault prevention and directed a play, Anything for You, to spark dialogue about sexual misconduct on campus. Other volunteer work includes tutoring kids, helping low-income city residents get tax refunds, and providing hospice support for the elderly in Philadelphia. His honors thesis is a book he is writing about school-based depression prevention.

"After I graduate, I'm planning to spend six months to a year working in East Africa, " Mark says, "probably Ethiopia, Uganda, and maybe Tanzania, with AIDS orphans and street children, doing direct service and advocacy work."