Honors & Awards

Charles D. Brown II, an assistant professor of physics at Yale University, has been selected as the winner the Joseph A. Johnson Award for Excellence from the American Institute of Physics and the National Society of Black Physicists.

Gwendolyn D. Pough, dean’s professor of the humanities and professor in the department of women’s and gender studies at Syracuse University in New York, is the latest recipient of the 2023 Ede Mentoring Award from the Coalition of Feminist Scholars in the History of Rhetoric & Composition. The biennial award recognizes impactful mentorship of students, campus leadership, professionals, and others.

In 1985, Professor Carson was asked by Coretta Scott King, Dr. King’s widow, to direct The King Papers Project with the mission of assembling and publishing the collected papers of her late husband.

Dr. Acoff became dean of the School of Engineering at the University of Mississippi on July 1. She is the first woman and first African American to hold the position. From 2014 to 2023, she was the associate dean for undergraduate and graduate programs at the University of Alabama.

Monica W. Walker, dean of instruction at the Community College of Baltimore County, recently received the 2023 Anna Julia Cooper Excellence Award from the Society for Experiential Education. The award recognizes Dr. Walker’s outstanding leadership of initiatives that demonstrate an exceptional commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice in experiential education.

Riché Richardson, professor of African American literature in the Africana Studies and Research Center at Cornell University in Ithaca New York, has been awarded the C. Hugh Holman Award from the Society for the Study of Southern Literature. The award will be presented to Professor Richardson at the Modern Language Association conference in January 2024.

The prize is given annually to an individual whose ideas have profoundly shaped human self-understanding and advancement in a rapidly changing world. Professor Collins joined the faculty at the University of Maryland in 2005. Earlier, she was the director of the African American Center at Tufts University and spent more than 20 years on the faculty at the University of Cincinnati.

Alvine Kamaha, assistant professor of physics at the University of California, Los Angeles, won the 2024 Edward A. Bouchet Award from the American Physical Society for her leadership and accomplishments in the experimental search for dark matter in the universe and advancement of underrepresented minority scientists.

The James Dent Walker Award is the highest national award that can be bestowed by the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society upon a person who has exhibited distinguished accomplishments through a significant and measurable contribution to the research, documentation, and/or preservation of African American history.

Dr. Reid, who is the immediate past president of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, was honored for his sustained contributions to both the HFES and the broader discipline, marking him as an influential figure in the human factors and ergonomics community.

Established by the Carnegie Corporation of New York as part of its centennial celebration, the prize recognizes trailblazers in the brain and behavioral sciences whose research has helped advance the field and its applications.

Robin Nelson, an associate professor in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State University, is being recognized for “her outstanding contributions to understanding human relationships and their evolutionary impact.”

Lois Harrison-Jones, professor emerita in the School of Education at Howard University in Washington, D.C., has been honored by the Richmond, Virginia School Board with the renaming of an elementary school in her honor. The school was previously named for a colonel in the Confederate Army.

President Davis WIlson, who is the first president of a historically Black college or university to earn this distinguished honor, was selected for the overall transformation he has led at Morgan State, including historic advancement in retention and graduation rates and the university’s engagement with adult learners. He was also recognized for his vigorous national advocacy on behalf of HBCUs and support of degree attainment for Black students.

Professor Lemma has taught mathematics for more than 30 years, including the last 28 at Savannah State University. He has been selected as the 2023 Top Professor of the Year by the International Association of Top Professionals

Dr. Shepherd is a professor of geography, the Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor, and the director of the atmospheric sciences program at the University of Georgia. Before joining the faculty at the University of Georgia, he was a research meteorologist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Dr. Shepherd is an expert in the fields of weather, climate, and remote sensing.

Michael C. Dawson, the John D. MacArthur Professor of Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity Studies and professor of political science at the University of Chicago, received the Charles E. Merriam Award from the American Political Science Association. The award is given to a person whose published work and career represent a significant contribution to the art of government through the application of social science research.

Rita Dove, the Henry Hoyns Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Virginia, has been selected to receive the medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters from the National Book Foundation, the nonprofit organization that presents the National Book Awards. She will be honored in New York on November 15.

Margie Lee, associate dean for research and graduate studies at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, has been selected as the 2023 recipient of the Phibro Animal Health Excellence in Poultry Research Award which honors a scholar who has demonstrated sustained excellence in research of poultry disease and health over a period of 20 years or more.

Shana Stoddard is an associate professor of chemistry at Rhodes College in Memphis. She is being honored by the society for showing a sustained commitment to breaking down local and/or systemic barriers against scientists and students from historically marginalized or excluded groups.