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ACL Award Presentation

On Friday, Director of Library Services, Meredith Ader, presented Carson DiFranco with the 2022 Association of Christian Librarians Research Award. To qualify for this award, a student must produce exceptional research and demonstrate a strong Christian witness. Carson received a glowing recommendation from Dr. Kristin Helms. Dr. Helms agreed to let us share an excerpt :  

Carson has demonstrated exceptional research ability in both of the upper-level biblical studies courses he has taken with me.  His research on the valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37 from the perspective of contextual history, literary criticism, and reception history of the text was so well done last semester that I asked him to present his work at the Academic Scholarship Celebration for our prospective honors students on Jan 29 of this year. . .

Carson is driven by a combination of curiosity and calling to understand the biblical text in a manner worthy of a true leader within the church.  He is a senior Biblical Studies major who currently serves as the tutor for the general education BIBL 1010 course that all students take at Roberts.  Just today, one of my students came up to me after class raving about him, saying Carson has kept him focused and on track in his studies, and he feels fully prepared for the upcoming exam largely because of Carson. Carson also serves as a Teaching Assistant for the MWF 10:00 section of this course, where he has grown tremendously in his confidence with grading and teaching the biblical material.  

Within the classes in which he is a student, it is clear that his peers admire him and look up to him as a leader, as well.  Carson has an underspoken demeanor about him that emotes a quiet yet powerful charisma.  His classmates deeply respect his opinions, pause to reflect on his astute observations, and view him as a much-trusted friend. Carson feels called to go to seminary after graduation and eventually get a doctorate in biblical studies.  I do not encourage students down that path, given the difficulties of such a path and the realities of the current job market, without seeing in the student a true calling from God and the characteristics necessary to succeed.  I see the potential for these things in Carson. . .  most of all in his complete surrender to Christ.