Rickey Laurentiis was selected as the winner of the 2016 Levis Reading Prize from the department of English and the master of fine arts degree program in creative writing at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. Laurentiis will be honored and receive a $5,000 prize at ceremonies in Richmond on October 11.
Laurentiis is being honored for his first poetry collection Boy With Thorn (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2015). He has taught at Columbia University in New York City and Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York. Laurentiis earned a master of fine arts degree in creative writing from Washington University in St. Louis.
Bridgette Peteet, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Cincinnati, received the 2016 Charles and Shirley Thomas Award from the American Psychological Foundation. The award recognizes outstanding achievement in student mentoring and for efforts to make psychology relevant to African Americans.
Dr. Peteet holds a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Cincinnati.
