Currier House resident Bert I. Huang '96, was named to USA Today's All-USA College Academic first team, the paper announced this week.

Huang, one of twenty students selected for the honor out of 1,231 nominees nationwide, received the award yesterday at USA Today's headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.

An Economics concentrator who served as chair of the Institute of Politics (IOP) in 1995, Huang was honored for his dedication to public service.

According to Huang, one of the things which impressed the committee was his work at the IOP, but he insisted on giving credit for his work there to others. He lauded his "incredibly wonderful colleagues, Melissa G. Liazos '96, Andrei H. Cerny '97 and Vanessa W. Liu '96."

Huang said he was particularly proud of his work organizing ten youth leadership conferences nationwide. He said the conferences, sponsored by the Red Cross, the Boy Scouts and the Organization of Chinese Americans, were designed to help build self-esteem among minority youth.

Colleagues at the IOP described Huang as "approachable," "friendly," an "extraordinary leader" and a "great visionary." They also lauded Huang's efforts to increase faculty interaction with students and his work on the IOP's newsletter and Web site, as examples of his contributions.

"The sky is the limit for Bert," said Eric P. Christofferson '98, chair of the IOP Projects Committee. "He has dedicated his life to public service and I think we will be hearing about him for a long time."

"Bert is just an amazing guy," added IOP member David V. Bonfili '96. "He does extremely well in school and he is extremely committed to the IOP."

The members of the first team were selected based on their individual scholarship, their leadership roles on and off campus, the rigor of their academic pursuits and their ability to express themselves in writing.

Huang, who was named to the first tier of USA Today's All-USA High School Academic Team four years ago, became the third person ever named to both teams.