Dr. Martin served as chancellor of North Carolina A&T State University from 2009 to 2023. Throughout his long tenure, the university experienced substantial growth in enrollment, and is now the largest HBCU in the country.
Dr. Herman Taylor currently directs the Cardiovascular Research Institute at Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, one of four historically Black medical schools in the country. He was recently honored by the American Heart Association for excellence in clinical research.
Danielle Spencer currently serves as an assitant professor of physics at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. She was honored by the National Society of Black Physicists for her research into dark matter and her mentorship of the next generation of physicists.
Johnson Sirleaf was the first woman democratically elected head of state in Africa. She was elected president of Libera in 2005 - just two years after the end of a decades-long civil war.
Dr. 'Dimeji Togunde is the vice provost for global education at Spelman College. Since joining the college's faculty in 2011, he has more than doubled the number of study abroad destinations for Spelman students.
Monic Ductan was honored for her first book, Daughters of Muscadine: Stories. She currently teaches creative writing and literature at Tennessee Tech University.
Dr. Swanson, an assistant professor at Mississippi State University, has been recognized for her new book, Maverick Feminist: To Be Female and Black in a Country Founded Upon Violence and Respectability.
Dr. Lomax is currently in his twentieth year as president and CEO of the United Negro College Fund. He has dedicated his five-decades-long career to civic duty and education, including service as the fifth president of Dillard University in New Orleans.
Hood is a professor and chair of the department of landscape architecture & environmental planning and urban design at the University of California, Berkeley. He is also a practicing architect and a past recipient of the MacArthur "Genius" Grant.
Gene Jarrett's book, Paul Laurence Dunbar: The Life and Times of a Caged Bird, tells the story of Dunbar's life as an African American writer in the late 1800s.
Renfrow Smith, who recently celebrated her 110th birthday, is Grinnell College's first Black alumna and oldest living alum. The newly established Renfrow Hall will serve as a space for the college and local community to collaborate on civic engagement projects.
Presented by Harvard University, the W.E.B. Du Bois Medal is considered the university's highest honor in the field of African and African American studies.
The Before Columbus Foundation has honored Barbara Savage, professor emerita at the University of Pennsylvania, with their 2024 American Book Award for her book, Merze Tate: The Global Odyssey of a Black Woman Scholar.
Dr. Gordon's career in education spans nearly seven decades, and includes roles in both public service and academia. He currently serves as a professor emeritus at both Columbia University and Yale University.
Dr. Barabino, president of Olin College of Engineering in Needham, Massachusetts, has conducted extensive research on the understanding of sickle cell disease and orthopedic tissue engineering, as well as advancing diversity and belonging in engineering education and research.
The Edley Center on Law & Democracy will focus its efforts on advancing the understanding of threats to America's democracy. The center's namesake, Christopher Edley, Jr., served as dean of Berkeley Law from 2004 to 2013. He passed away on May 10, 2024.
Coates served as the African American studies manuscript and reference librarian in the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University for over a decade. He also taught as an adjunct instructor of African American studies at Sojourner-Douglass College in Maryland.
Sharon Irving, professor of pediatric nursing at the University of Pennsylvania, has conducted extensive research on clinical care delivery, particularly nutrition care delivery for critically ill infants and children.
The finalists are Kerri Greenidge, professor at Tufts University; Sarah Johnson, professor at the University of California, San Diego; and Emily Owens, professor at Brown University.
Dr. Murimi has over 25 years of higher education experience in nutrition. As a professor at Texas Tech University, she currently conducts research on developing strategies to combat food insecurity and the related complications.