UB Senior Named One of 20 on USA Today All-USA College Academic First Team

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Aaron Krolikowski of Glenwood, N.Y., a senior at the University at Buffalo with an outstanding record of academic and environmental achievement, has been named to the USA Today All-USA College Academic Team First Team, an award honoring students for their outstanding accomplishments as undergraduates.

USA Today announced its annual list of academic stars in today's edition.

Krolikowski is one of 20 students nationwide chosen for the first team, a selection based on grades, academic rigor, leadership, activities and, most important, according to USA Today, an essay written by the nominee describing his or her most outstanding intellectual endeavor as a college undergraduate. Krolikowski wrote about his efforts to establish a village irrigation program in northwest Tanzania, part of a project he did for the UB Honors College.

Krolikowski and the other members of USA Today's first team will receive trophies and a cash award of $2,500. Forty runners-up were named to the second and third teams and will receive certificates of recognition.

Krolikowski is the second UB student to be named to the newspaper's first team (Daphne Bascom, B.A. '88, was the first). UB recognized his academic achievements at the annual Scholars of Excellence Luncheon April 6.

He is a 2005 graduate of the Springville Griffith Institute, and the son of Allan and Louise Krolikowski of Glenwood, whom he says, "raised all five of us kids to reach our highest potential, but I don't think they ever thought their son would be recognized by USA Today."

He will graduate Phi Beta Kappa from UB this spring with a degree in political science and interdisciplinary social sciences concentrated in environmental studies.

In the fall, he will attend Oxford University, which has awarded him a prestigious four-year postgraduate Clarendon Scholarship to pursue a Doctor of Philosophy (D. Phil.) degree in development studies, an interdisciplinary program that draws from the fields of economics, anthropology and political science and policy.

Although a UB Honors College scholarship covered his tuition, Krolikowski, like many UB students, supported himself financially through his undergraduate years, albeit in ways a little different from most students.

To pay for his housing and food, he worked for three years as a resident assistant and a community assistant and also as a student assistant in the Office of Admissions. He also was a paid employee of the UB Regional Institute and interned with the Environmental Protection Bureau of the New York State Attorney General's Office.

"I was able to support myself and do work that I loved," Krolikowski says, "but one of the reasons I'm extremely excited about Oxford is that I won't have to work outside of school. I'll be able to focus exclusively on my education."

He says that when he completes school, he wants to return to Western New York to help develop innovative policies that that can reform the Great Lakes economies by drawing on the strengths of the region, saying he thinks it is possible to improve the lives of millions by focusing on environmentally sustainable solutions to the challenges we face in this region.

"I often tell people that UB was my lecture hall and the entire region was my campus. Of course, my family raised me in such a way that I would aim for excellence, but it was UB that cultivated that foundation. Pretty much everything I've done was facilitated in some way by UB."

A 2008 Morris K. Udall scholar, Krolikowski is a member of UB's Honors College and recently received the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Academic Excellence. He was a finalist for both a 2009 Rhodes Scholarship and a 2009 Marshall Scholarship, and was an award-winning arranger with the Buffalo Chips, UB's male a cappella vocal ensemble, with whom he sings.

"The recognition from USA Today is different from the other awards," Krolikowski says, "primarily because, while I am representing UB and SUNY, I am also representing top-performing students from around the country, regardless of their institution or location.

"Also, the other awards I've won recognized certain facets of what I've done, either my academic or environmental work, while USA Today is recognizing the 'whole package' I guess you could say. So it is quite an honor."

"While I'm away, I'm going to miss everything about this region," he adds. "I grew up in Western New York and my time at UB has allowed me to really develop a love for everything this area has to offer."

The University at Buffalo is a premier research-intensive public university, a flagship institution in the State University of New York system and its largest and most comprehensive campus. UB's more than 28,000 students pursue their academic interests through more than 300 undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs. Founded in 1846, the University at Buffalo is a member of the Association of American Universities.