Honors & Awards

Deborah Johnson Is the First African American to Win the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction

The Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction is administered by the University of Alabama School of Law and the ABA Journal. Johnson is the first woman and the first African American to win the prize.

Black Cultural Center at the University of Tennessee Named to Honor Twin Brothers

The Friesons, both successful businessmen, recently gave $1 million to the university that will be used for academic support programs, diversity workshops, peer mentoring programs, and leadership development activities at the Black Cultural Center.

University of Delaware Scholar to Be Honored by the the American Institute of Chemical Engineers

Thomas H. Epps III is the Thomas and Kipp Gutshall Associate Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Delaware. Dr. Epps joined the University of Delaware faculty in 2006.

Book on the Racial Integration of College Basketball Wins the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award

The biography of Perry Wallace, who played basketball for Vanderbilt University from 1967 to 1970, is the first book dealing with sports to be honored in the 35-year history of the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award.

Three Black Scholars With Ties to Academic Medicine Win Awards

The honorees are Judith Green-McKenzie of the University of Pennsylvania, Richard Payne of Duke University, and Marie Chisholm-Burns of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis.

Medgar Evers to Be Honored by Medgar Evers College

This spring Medgar Evers College will grant an honorary degree to its namesake, Medgar Evers. Mylie Evers-Williams, who was married to Medgar Evers and continued his civil rights work after his death, will accept the award at the college's June 2 commencement.

West Point to Name New Cadet Barracks to Honor Benjamin O. Davis Jr.

In 1932 Benjamin O. Davis Jr., the son of an Army officer, was admitted to West Point. He was "silenced" or shunned by his classmates for four years. No cadets, faculty or staff members befriended or spoke to him except on an official basis.

Honors and Awards for Six African American Educators

The honorees are Stephanie Luck of the University of Arkansas, the late Levi Watkins at Vanderbilt University, Clara Adams of Morgan State University, Anthony B. Pinn of Rice University, William F. Tate of Washington University in St. Louis, and Em Claire Knowles of Simmons College.

The Nation’s Top-Ranked University Debater Is an African American

Aaron Murphy, a senior at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, was named Speaker of the Year by the American Parliamentary Debate Association.

Medical Education Pioneer Donald Wilson Honored by the American College of Physicians

In 1991, Dr. Donald E. Wilson was named dean of medicine at the University of Maryland, the first African American dean of a predominantly White medical school. He was also was the first Black president of the Association of American Medical Colleges.

Emory University School of Law to Name an Endowed Chair in Honor of John Lewis

John Lewis spoke at the March on Washington and was beaten on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, on Bloody Sunday in March 1965. He has served his Atlanta district in Congress since 1987.

African American Adjunct Professor Wins a Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance

Melissa Givens is an adjunct professor at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas, and Texas Southern University in Houston. She is also a doctoral student in music at the University of Houston.

Three African Americans at Leading Universities Receive Prestigious Honors

The honorees are Roland G. Fryer Jr., the Henry Lee Professor of Economics at Harvard, assistant professor Stephen M. Avery of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and Iris Outlaw, director of multicultural student programs and services at the University of Notre Dame.

Sjohnna McCray Wins the 2015 Walt Whitman Award

The adjunct instructor in the department of English at Savannah State University in Georgia is being honored by the Academy of American Poets.

University of Maryland Building a Monument to Frederick Douglass

The new Frederick Douglass Square will feature quotations from Douglass displayed on a steel wall.

Dorothy Cowser Yancy Honored by Johnson C. Smith University

Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina, has paid tribute to its president emerita Dorothy Cowser Yancy by naming the new Information and Technology Hall in her honor.

Three Black Women in Higher Education Win Notable Awards

The honorees are Wanda Heading-Grant of the University of Vermont, Juanita Johnson-Bailey of the University of Georgia, and Emile M. Towns, dean of the Vanderbilt University Divinity School.

University of Virginia Names New Building After Former Slaves of University Professors

Both Isabella and William Gibbons were slaves who were owned by different professors at the University of Virginia prior to the Civil War. The new Gibbons Hall will house about 200 students this fall.

The Late Maya Angelou Honored by the U.S. Postal Service

Maya Angelou, the Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University, who died last spring, was honored with the issue of a Forever Stamp bearing her portrait.

Vassar College Honored for Its Commitment to Increasing Opportunities for Low-Income Students

Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, is the inaugural winner of the $1 million Cooke Prize for Equity in Educational Excellence. Since 2008 the college has vastly increased its percentage of students from low-income families.
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