Honors & Awards

Shana Stoddard of Rhodes College in Memphis Wins Mentoring Award

The Council on Undergraduate Research’s Silvia Ronco Innovative Mentor Award recognizes original and insightful research work by a young investigator working with undergraduates that has had a significant impact on chemistry and the STEM careers of the students involved.

Cato T. Laurencin Honored for Diversity Efforts by the Society for Biomaterials

The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award recognizes Dr. Laurencin of the University of Connecticut for promoting anti-racism and creating a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment for historically excluded groups in the STEM disciplines, especially in the field of biomaterials. He is the inaugural winner of the award.

Michael Ward Honored for Lifetime Achievement in Radiology and Nursing Education

Michael Ward recently retired from the Goldfarb School of Nursing on the campus of Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, which is affiliated with Washington University. He served as vice dean for student affairs and diversity and professor at the nursing school.

Carl Phillips Wins the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry

Carl Phillips, a professor of English and African American studies at Washington University in St. Louis, won the Pulitzer Prize in poetry. Professor Phillips was honored for his poetry collection Then the War: And Selected Poems, 2007-2020

Two Blacks Among Three Winners of the Waterman Award From the National Science Foundation

Natalie King, an associate professor of science education at Georgia State University, and Asegun Henry is an associate professor of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will each receive a grant of $1,000,000 over a five-year period for scientific research or advanced study in science and engineering disciplines.

Asegun Henry of MIT Wins the Alan T. Waterman Award from the National Science Foundation

Asegun Henry, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is the recipient of the Alan T. Waterman Award from...

The First Black Woman to Be Named a Fellow of the Academy of Leisure Sciences

Corliss Outley, professor in the department of parks, recreation, and tourism management and director of the Race, Ethnicity, Youth and Social Equity Collaboratory at Clemson University in South Carolina, is the first African American woman to be named a Fellow of the Academy of Leisure Sciences in its 43-year history.

Yale University Awards Degrees to Two of its First Students

James W. C. Pennington (1808-1870) and Alexander Crummell (1819-1898) studied at Yale from 1834 to 1837 and 1840 to 1841, respectively. Because they were Black, however, the university did not allow them to register formally for classes or matriculate for a degree. They could not participate in classroom discussions or access library resources.

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.

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