Honors & Awards

The University of South Carolina’s First Building Named to Honor an African American

The University of South Carolina has renamed a residence hall to honor Celia Dial Saxon, who was born enslaved in 1857 but later had a 57-year career as an educator in South Carolina. Saxon attended the Normal School on the University of South Carolina campus when it was integrated during Reconstruction.

Two African American Men Win Prestigious Awards

Robert Bullard, the Distinguished Professor of Urban Planning and Environmental Policy at Texas Southern University has been selected to receive the Horizon Award from the Harvard Law School’s Environmental Law Society and James L. Moore III, the chief diversity officer at Ohio State University, received the Transformative Impact Award from the American Counseling Association.

The First African American to Deliver the Bampton Lectures at the University of Oxford

Willie James Jennings an associate professor of systematic theology at Yale Divinity School, has been selected to deliver the Bampton Lectures for 2023 at the University of Oxford in England. He is the first African American selected to give these lectures in the 243-year history of the program.

Camara Phyllis Jones Honored for Her Contributions to Health Education

Camara Phyllis Jones received the 2023 Elizabeth Fries Health Education Award from the CDC Foundation and the James F. and Sarah T. Fries Foundation. Dr. Jones was honored for her exceptional ability to educate about pathways linking racism to poor health outcomes.

Syracuse University’s Carrie Mae Weems Is the Winner of the 2023 Hasselblad Award

The Hasselblad Award is an international photography prize that is granted annually to a photographer recognized for major achievements. The award is often referred to as the “Nobel Prize” of photography. The award includes a monetary prize of about $188,000 and a gold medal.

The Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice at Brown University Named After Ruth Simmons

Ten years ago, the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice opened its doors at Brown University. The center’s creation inspired universities and other organizations around the world to take up the work of investigating their own ties to slavery. Now, the university has named the center in honor of President Emerita Ruth J. Simmons.

Cal Poly Pomona President Soraya M. Coley Honored by the American Council on Education

Dr. Coley is the first woman and first African American scholar to serve as president of California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. She will receive the 2023 Donna Shavlik Award from the American Council on Education at the Women’s Leadership Dinner at the American Council on Education's annual meeting in Washington, D.C.

School of Pharmacy at the University of Pittsburgh to Honor Its First Black Woman Graduate

While Ella P. Stewart was at the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy beginning in 2014, in classrooms White males had the first rows of seats, and they were followed, in descending order, by White females, then Jews, then Blacks.

Spelman College President Helene Gayle Honored for Her Philanthropic Work

Before becoming president of Spelman College in July 2022, Dr. Gayle was president and CEO of The Chicago Community Trust, one of the nation’s oldest and largest community foundations. Earlier, Dr. Gayle was president and CEO of CARE, a leading international humanitarian organization.

UCLA’s Kelly Lytle Hernández Wins the Bancroft Prize

Kelly Lytle Hernández holds the Thomas E. Lifka Chair of History at the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Lytle Hernández is also the director of the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA.

Princeton University’s Ludovic Tangpi Wins an American Mathematical Society Fellowship

The AMS Claytor-Gilmer Fellowship is named for William Schieffelin Claytor and Gloria Ford Gilmer, the first African American man and woman to publish research articles in peer-reviewed mathematics journals. The year-long fellowship was established to further excellence in mathematics research and to help generate wider and sustained participation by Black mathematicians.

Two Black Scholars in the United States Win the Dan David Prize

The Dan David Prize is awarded by the Dan David Foundation at Tel Aviv University in Israel to up to nine early and mid-career scholars and practitioners in the historical disciplines. The honor comes with a $300,000 prize. Of this year's nine winners, two are Black scholars with university affiliations in the United States: Saheed Aderinto of Florida International University and Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers of the University of California, Berkeley.

Georgia State’s Elizabeth Armstrong-Mensah Earns Early Career Teaching Excellence Award

The Early Career Teaching Excellence Award is given to one faculty member each year from among the 138 member institutions in the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health. The award recognizes faculty for outstanding teaching and mentoring of students in public health research, teaching, and practice.

Penn State’s Denise Okafor Wins the Mason Award for Women in the Chemical Sciences

First awarded in 2015, the Mason Award is a highly competitive award that attracts applications from the very best early-career female chemists across the country. Dr. Okafor's research focuses on understanding how protein function is regulated.

Princeton University’s Dan-el Padilla Peralta Wins Two Book Prizes

Dr. Padilla Peralta won the 2022 American Historical Association’s Herbert Baxter Adams Prize (given for an author’s first book in European history from ancient times through 1815) and was co-recipient of the 2022 Classical Association of the Middle West and South’s First Book Prize.

Harvard University’s Tiya Miles Wins Another Award for Her Book Ashley’s Sack

Tiya Miles, the Michael Garvey Professor of History and the Radcliffe Alumnae Professor at Harvard University, recently was awarded the 2022 Cundill History Prize by McGill University in Montreal. The $75,000 prize is given for a book that embodies historical scholarship, originality, literary quality, and broad appeal.

Tressie McMillan Cottom Is the Winner of the Gittler Prize from Brandeis University

The Joseph B. and Toby Gittler Prize was created in 2007 by the late Professor Joseph B. Gittler to recognize outstanding and lasting scholarly contributions to racial, ethnic, and/or religious relations. The annual award includes a $25,000 prize and a medal.

Robert Bullard Honored by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education

The Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education honors outstanding leaders (both academics and practitioners) who have made significant contributions to the advancement of sustainability in higher education over their lifetimes. Dr. Bullard, Distinguished Professor at Texas Southern University, is the fifth recipient of this award.

Harvard University’s Tiya Miles Wins Another Award for Her Book Ashley’s Sack

Tiya Miles, the Michael Garvey Professor of History and the Radcliffe Alumnae Professor at Harvard University, recently was awarded the 2022 Cundill History Prize by McGill University in Montreal. The $75,000 prize is given for a book that embodies historical scholarship, originality, literary quality, and broad appeal.

Miriam Mobley Smith Honored by the American Society of Health-Systems Pharmacists

Miriam Mobley Smith is the interim dean of the Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo. Prior to coming to the University of Hawai'i in 2021, the veteran pharmacy academic served as interim dean and visiting professor at the Northeastern University Bourvé College of Health Sciences in Boston and as dean and tenured professor at the Chicago State University College of Pharmacy.

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