Donnelly, Schalk Receive Dean Ehlers Leadership Award

2/28/2015 1:13:56 PM

Rob Washburn

RICHMOND, Va. (February 28, 2015) – Northeastern redshirt junior guard Caleb Donnelly (Hudson, N.H.) and William and Mary senior forward Tom Schalk (Burnsville, Minn.) have been selected as co-recipients of the 2015 Dean Ehlers Leadership Award by the Colonial Athletic Association.

The Ehlers Award is presented annually to a men’s and women’s basketball student-athlete who “embodies the highest standards of leadership, integrity and sportsmanship in conjunction with his academic athletic achievement.” It’s named after former James Madison athletic director Dean Ehlers, who was a founding member of the conference and served as its first president.

Donnelly has a 3.99 grade point average while majoring in chemical engineering and minoring in mathematics. He was selected as a class representative to the 2016 American Institute for Chemical Engineers and was a Huntington 100 Award winner, which recognizes the 100 most influential students at Northeastern University. Donnelly has been a member of the Dean’s List during every semester at NU and has been inducted into the Omega Chi Epsilon National Chemistry Society. He volunteered for six months as a teacher through the Citizen Schools Program and taught an inner-city, sixth-grade class how to build solar-powered toy cars.

Donnelly joined the Northeastern program as a walk-on this season after playing on the school’s club team for the past two years. He has seen action in 26 of the Huskies’ first 30 games as a reserve guard. Donnelly has been the team’s most accurate three-point shooter (51.3%), making 20 of his 39 attempts from beyond the arc. He scored a career-high 13 points at Santa Clara on Dec. 20 and had nine points against Delaware and Detroit.

Schalk has a 3.7 grade point average while majoring in accounting and has already been accepted to graduate school in William & Mary’s Masters in Accounting program. He was selected for an internship program with PricewaterhouseCoopers. Schalk is a three-time recipient of the William & Mary Provost Award, is a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, and was chosen to represent the College in the 2014 Grant Thornton Program for emerging leaders. Schalk is involved with the Williamsburg Community Chapel where he works with local teens leading bible study groups and mentoring.

Schalk is a four-year letterwinner for the Tribe basketball team and has appeared in more than 80 career games. He is a two-time member of the CAA All-Academic team. Schalk has played a key role in the post for W&M this season, averaging 4.9 points and 3.0 rebounds per game while also contributing 15 blocked shots. He scored a career-high 13 points in a victory at UNCW on Feb. 7, including the game-winning bucket off an offensive rebound.

Other nominees for the Dean Ehlers Leadership Award were: Anthony Stitt, a senior from the College of Charleston majoring in sociology; Kyle Anderson, a senior from the University of Delaware majoring in health & physical education; Rodney Williams, a sophomore from Drexel University majoring in business administration; Austin Hamilton, a senior from Elon University majoring in sport & event management; Dion Nesmith, a graduate student from Hofstra University who is working on a MBA in business analytics; Dimitrije Cabarkapa, a redshirt sophomore from James Madison University majoring kinesiology and exercise science; Dylan Sherwood, a junior from UNCW majoring in business administration/finance; and Timajh Parker-Rivera, a junior from Towson majoring in sport management.