Top Honors for Scholarship, Leadership Announced at UA

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Recipients of the 2010 Premier Awards – the top individual honors for scholarship, leadership and service at The University of Alabama – were announced by UA President Robert E. Witt at a recent recognition ceremony held here. 

The 2010 UA Premier Award recipients, who will also be recognized at UA during Honors Week in April, include:

The William P. Bloom Scholarship Award

Olesea Volosin

The William P. Bloom Scholarship Award honors a junior who has improved intergroup relations within the University community; this year’s winner is Olesea Volosin of Troy.

Volosin has worked to improve cultural awareness at UA. Originally from the Republic of Moldova, a former Soviet Union satellite, she has re-created the Russian Club on campus, currently serving as its president. As an ambassador in the International Peering Advisory Council, Volosin reaches out to international students as they arrive on campus to assist them with practical matters of registration and orientation while fostering intercultural communication and understanding.

A top business student and faculty scholar, she continues focusing on helping others by researching green marketing to make companies sustainable and decrease environmental impact. Passionate about languages and fluent in at least four of them, Volosin served as a tutor for the Spanish Outreach program to help Hispanic schoolchildren and their families enjoy success in the English-speaking world.

The Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award

Wilson Boardman

Kendra N. Key

Dr. Judith Bonner

The Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award is presented to one man and one woman of the graduating class and one non-student who has been helpful to, and associated with, the University. The Sullivan Award recognizes excellence of character and service to humanity. Student winners of this year’s Sullivan Award are Wilson Boardman of Homewood and Kendra N. Key of Tuscaloosa. Dr. Judith Bonner is the non-student recipient.

Wilson Boardman

Boardman, an international finance and Spanish major, has served UA and the surrounding community through leadership and mentoring. As a member of Documenting Justice, a selective class run by UA’s Center for Ethics & Social Responsibility, he created a short film that told the story of Nancy de la Torre, a Mexican-American immigrant who started several businesses despite hardships. The film was selected for screening at the Birmingham Sidewalk Film Festival.

His community outreach includes being a founder, tutor and translator for the ESL Jumpstart Program that provides free pre-kindergarten education to Hispanic students in the Tuscaloosa City School District. He is an outstanding student who is also well-traveled, spending a semester studying in Cuba, a May interim in Oxford, and a summer internship at an investment bank on Wall Street. As a campus leader, Boardman has served in the Capstone Men and Women, Blackburn Institute and Anderson Society.

 Kendra N. Key

Key’s poise and effectiveness as a leader have contributed to her ability to connect with people across the UA campus in ways that engage them. She created and championed the UA Recycling Initiative, working to institute residential and stadium recycling. Her leadership in building this initiative helped make other students more aware of their ability to make a difference.

Key has served as chief policy adviser for the Student Government Association, chair of the Blackburn Institute, president of Mortar Board Senior Honorary Society and legislative advocate for Impact Alabama. Her approach to defining her undergraduate experience and concern for others has been extended in her work as an executive research intern for the State Farm Cyber Security Task Force and as an environmental/energy research intern in the office of Congressman Artur Davis. She continues to work with Alabama communities as a community-based research intern at the David Matthews Center for Civic Life.

Dr. Judith Bonner

An esteemed scholar, well-respected administrator and beloved mentor, Bonner has shown the highest level of commitment to every constituent of the University. As executive vice president and provost at UA, Bonner has guided the campus with dedication and care during a time of unprecedented growth. Her long-term service and leadership is valued by current colleagues as well as by those from her previous posts as dean of the College of Human Environmental Sciences, special assistant to the president, assistant academic vice president, and head of the department of human nutrition and hospitality management.

Bonner is an active member of civic, scientific and professional organizations and is the author of numerous books and articles. She is considered a leading scholar in nutrition with a distinct record of research in the area of pediatric nutrition. A mentor to students, she has involved them in her research and been able to develop the next generation of scholars. She gives back to the larger community and was instrumental in the development and implementation of a camp for children with cystic fibrosis. She also received the Denman Award from the Methodist Church in recognition of her work with the Wesley Foundation.

The Catherine Johnson Randall Award

Ynhi Thi Thai

The Catherine Johnson Randall Award, named for the former director of UA’s innovative Computer-Based Honors Program, is given to one graduating senior. The Randall Award recognizes the most outstanding student scholar at UA, based on GPA, rigor of course study and extraordinary scholarly or creative endeavor. Ynhi Thi Thai of Long Beach, Miss., is this year’s recipient.

As the Southeast Asia project leader for Engineers Without Borders, Thai led a group of 10 students from the UA chapter of Engineers Without Borders to Vietnam and Cambodia in a partnership with Lien Aid to test water treatment in an area where clean water is a luxury.  A dedicated scholar who has pursued a rigorous course of study as a chemical engineering major with a minor in chemistry, she is editor-in-chief of the Journal of Science and Health at UA.

Thai was named to the second team of USA Today’s 2009 All-USA College Academic Team and was recognized as a Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence Foundation scholar. She is also the recipient of the William Orr Dingwall Foundation Asian Ancestry Grant and the Ernest F. Hollings Scholarship. As a Hollings Scholar, Thai interned at the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory-Ocean Chemistry Division in Miami, Fla., where she studied coastal-marine management.

The John Fraser Ramsey Award

Paul Benton Atchison

The John Fraser Ramsey Award, named in honor of the late University history professor emeritus, recognizes in a junior the versatility of gifts and attainments, as well as the breadth of excellence in mind and character that have traditionally been the goals of a liberal education. The recipient of the Ramsey Award is Paul Benton Atchison of Montgomery.

Atchisonhas worked to make life better not only for UA students, but he has extended the University’s reach to help the area’s elderly residents. He founded and directs Re:Generation, a community service initiative designed to improve the quality of life for nursing home residents. The program relies heavily on a steady group of student volunteers whom he organizes, motivates and rewards to provide the seniors with monthly visits and entertaining events.

Atchison also created and publishes “The Agorean,” an online newspaper focusing on Greek life at UA with the goal of promoting the positive aspects of fraternities and sororities while satirizing negative stereotypes. His leadership extends across campus through his active involvement in the Student Government Association as assistant vice president for external relations this year and as director of academic programs last year. Atchison serves as president of the Commerce Associates and vice president of the Elliott Society.

The Morris Lehman Mayer Award

Elizabeth Jones

Dr. James C. Hall

The Morris Lehman Mayer Award is named in honor of the late Morris Lehman Mayer, business professor emeritus. For three decades, Mayer was a beloved UA teacher and a guiding force in student life. The award recognizes integrity, selfless service and leadership at UA and in the community among those also making significant contributions to student life. Dr. James C. Hall is the non-student recipient of the Mayer Award, and Elizabeth Jones is the student recipient.

 

Elizabeth Jones

Recognizing that civic service is about being gracious and proactive, humbled and empowered, Jones began Speak Up Tuscaloosa, a debate program for at-risk middle school students. As director of Speak Up, she leads a team of honors students in the outreach program that has not only improved the literacy skills of the students, but has transformed their lives with the positive impact debate has on student learning.

She has been active in UA Center for Ethics & Social Responsibility programs as a CE&SR Scholar, champion of the Moral Forum debate competition, and documentary filmmaker in the Documenting Justice class. A member of the Blackburn Institute, the Anderson Society, and an intern at the David Matthews Center for Civic Life, Jones has been selected to be in the prestigious, inaugural Teach for America corps serving in Alabama’s rural Black Belt.

Dr. James C. Hall

Through his leadership as director of New College — an interdisciplinary, liberal arts program — Hall is at the heart of a vast range of innovative projects, speakers and events. As a teacher, mentor and adviser to countless students, he always provides the time for a truly individual, open conversation. When not teaching, he directs numerous independent study projects for students who have interests outside the traditional classroom. His door is always open to students who need guidance and advice, as shown through the great deal of time he spends advising students.

Hall is also an active member of the Tuscaloosa community. As a member of Challenge 21, he serves as a leader for a grassroots organization striving to make Tuscaloosa a better place to live through workforce development, planned county growth and better relations among citizens. On campus, he serves on the Campus Master Planning Committee, the Council on Community Initiatives and as adviser to the New College Council.