Six UGA students and four staff members received scholarships and awards during the Black Faculty and Staff Organization’s 2024 Founders’ Award Scholarship Ceremony, held Sept. 30.
UGA President Jere W. Morehead expressed his appreciation to the BFSO for its assistance in supporting the university’s students.
“The experiences and backgrounds that each and every one of our students bring to this campus is what makes the University of Georgia a remarkable place,” Morehead said. “You are the individuals who are creating a welcoming and nurturing environment for our students. Those interactions, combined with scholarships like the ones awarded today, can make a difference in the lives of our students and their families.”
UGA President Jere W. Morehead welcomes attendees to the 2024 Black Faculty and Staff Organization Founders’ Award Scholarship Ceremony (Photo by Dorothy Kozlowski/UGA)
The 2024 scholarship awardees are:
- Undergraduate Founders Award: Andre Akinyemi, a finance and management information systems major in the Terry College of Business;
- Professional Student Founders Award: Camryn Hollis, a student in the College of Veterinary Medicine;
- Graduate Founders Award: Christina Okitondo, a doctoral candidate in epidemiology and biostatistics in the School of Public Health;
- Mark Dawkins Leadership Award: Arionya Gude, an advertising major in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication;
- Myron G. Burney Service Award: Aaliyah Khaiphanliane, who is majoring in political science in the School of Public and International Affairs and sociology in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences; and
- Melanie Burden Community Arts Award: Rayna Carter, who is majoring in psychology, sociology and women’s and gender studies in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.
Attendees mingle before the annual BFSO awards ceremony. (Photo by Dorothy Kozlowski/UGA)
The BFSO also honored UGA staff members with the Ed Wilker Memorial Egalitarian Award, which recognizes the occupational excellence of UGA staff members. The 2024 awardees are Xavier Brown, School of Law; Lenita Howard, Facilities Management Division; Shayla Lee, Mary Frances Early College of Education; and Emma Mattox, School of Social Work.
Keynote speaker Alton Standifer, vice provost for inclusive excellence and chief of staff to the provost, spoke about the importance of the work done by his office and the BFSO.
Specifically, Standifer said the work is about breaking the chains of generational poverty and creating opportunities for more students who think they can’t go to college. That leads to closing gaps in graduation and retention rates.
“They need somebody from UGA who sees how incredible this place is to let them know it exists and that they can be successful here,” he said.
Alton Stander delivers the keynote address at the annual BFSO awards ceremony. (Photo by Dorothy Kozlowski/UGA)
“We are connected as a community, and that is one of the things I love most about the University of Georgia,” he said.
To learn more or join the organization, email bfso@uga.edu.