Our campus community is full of passionate, supportive Dragons — and every year, the DigiPen Student Union like to recognize those who went above and beyond in their contributions.
Here are your 2023 Student Life Excellence Award winners, as voted on by members of the DigiPen community. We’ve selected some anonymous remarks from the folks who nominated each of this year’s winners.
Student of the Year: Joseph Crump
“Joseph has been a TA the past three years. His dedication to helping his peers has not wavered once — even while picking up two part-time contracts this past year, he has continued to TA and offer support to his peers regardless.”
“His reputation as a ‘Unity wizard’ means that it’s not uncommon for students he has assisted in the past to reach out with questions, and he is always happy to help and tackle problems with them. I have witnessed him create practice projects prior to meetings scheduled with students so that he has a demo to show them and help them learn the material better.”
“Joseph is incredibly hard-working and has supported his peers immensely during his time at DigiPen. I know that I’m not alone when I say that my time and growth at DigiPen were made better with Joseph Crump there.”
Joseph Crump is a 2023 graduate of the BA in Game Design program.
Faculty of the Year: Doug Parry
“Doug has always been a fun professor to be around, who has his students’ best interests at heart. His feedback is always positive, even when he suggests changes or requires resubmissions. He has been supportive through any hurdles that I’ve met, and helped make sure I knew that I was still capable of being here, despite anything and everything going on in my life. He let me know I was still doing great, even when I felt my work was weak. He inspired me to keep fighting, and that’s something that deserves recognition beyond a shadow of a doubt.”
Doug Parry is an associate professor in the Department of Fine Arts.
Staff of the Year: Beth Chaney-Torni
“She has made every event very fun and provided good distractions from school stress. A lot of that came from her kind attitude and friendly atmosphere. She’s always fun to be around and made everything better.”
“Beth has taken amazing steps to respect and understand the goals of the student body while creating new opportunities for student engagement.”
“I believe this school’s culture has a bright future with her titanic support of student welfare.”
Beth Chaney-Torni is the Coordinator of Student Engagement in the Office of Student Engagement.
Registered Student Organization of the Year: Gamers Philanthropy Network
“The Gamers Philanthropy Network is a very deserving RSO for this year, benefiting the community not just beyond DigiPen, but Redmond as well. It sends a message that we can make impactful changes to the city around us. It gives us an opportunity to volunteer to help our community, something every student should take the chance to do. Promoting charity among our peers creates some really good feelings of pride in our school, especially when you see the impactful changes that some of our students have made this year alone with the Gamers Philanthropy Network.”
Learn more about DigiPen’s new Gamers Philanthropy Network club.
Gordon Dutrisac Lifetime Award: Angela Kugler
“I believe that Angela is deserving of this award due to the time and care they’ve put into the DigiPen Student Union; the Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee; and alumni relations. They’ve been an insightful resource as we’ve been transitioning from the online COVID years to back in-person, and have reconnected us with alumni, companies, and DSU history to help us bring back traditions and create new ones.”
Angela Kugler is the Executive Vice President of Administration and Operations.