The annual Premier Awards honor members of the UA community who exemplify the highest standards of scholarship, service, leadership and character. This year, six students, two faculty and a student club received the University’s top honors.
The William P. and Estan J. Bloom Award
This award honors a student who has improved relations among different groups. Past recipients have been chosen primarily for improving understanding and supporting interaction among groups for a common cause.
Aubrei Grisaffe
Aubrei Grisaffe has a lifelong commitment to the intellectual and developmental disability community. Her mission when she arrived at The University of Alabama was to foster inclusivity in every area of campus life.
Through her extensive involvement with the CrossingPoints program as an academic and social mentor as well as her work with the Student Government Association, she has created valuable collaborations. These include establishing a new campus bus stop at the CrossingPoints academic building and creating the inaugural delegate position on the SGA’s First Year Council for one CrossingPoints student each fall.
Grisaffe’s advocacy for students shines through her tireless involvement as the SGA’s vice president for belonging and wellness. In this role, she leads a 20-member cabinet and oversees the Capstone Wellness Explorer. She has helped create and guide several campuswide, student-centered initiatives that will continue beyond her time at the Capstone.
The Judy Bonner Presidential Medallion Award
The Bonner Prize recognizes a member of the UA community who has gone above and beyond normal expectations to change the culture or implement new initiatives designed to advance the Alabama experience for all undergraduate students or a segment of the undergraduate population (i.e. first generation, veterans, students in Greek-letter organizations, student leaders, athletes, students studying abroad, minorities, etc.).
Recognizes those who have made extraordinary contributions to the Alabama experience, positively impacting undergraduate students.
Red Rook Press
Red Rook Press offers a transformative experience for the more than 60 students from diverse academic disciplines who staff the student-run publishing house. Created in the fall of 2022 by just 37 students, five faculty members and two administrators, Red Rook’s increased membership is a testament to the impact the press has made in the lives of RRP staffers both old and new.
Students can gain experience on the press’s acquisitions, audio, editing, design, promotions and website development teams. Red Rook staffers say the press has changed them as students and that the skills they are learning translate to their coursework. Red Rook Press has also enriched the campus community — many staffers feel they have found a home at The University of Alabama through the press.
Red Rook faculty advisers are Paul Albano, Sarah Cheshire, Merrill Lee Girardeau, Stephanie Marker and Jane Morton.
The Morris Lehman Mayer Award
Recipients will exemplify the life of Morris L. Mayer: selfless and significant service and leadership for the UA community, significant contributions to student life, and integrity. Professor Mayer’s career exemplified the importance of enriching the undergraduate student experience; therefore, priority should be given to faculty candidates with extensive service in this area.
Dillon Cook
Students and campus leaders who have worked with Dillon Cook say his commitment to serving others is nothing short of exemplary. His influence has changed the lives of many, from new students trying to navigate life away from home to CrossingPoints students trying to find their place at UA.
Cook has held leadership roles within UA Admissions, Camp 1831 A-Team and the National Society of Leadership and Success. During his time at UA, Cook has been involved with the Blackburn Institute and was selected for several programs, including the inaugural Civic Leadership Fellowship, the Global Leadership Academy, and the second cohort for the prestigious Gandhi-King Scholarly Exchange Initiative.
Cook’s peers say he is not only leaving a lasting impact on their lives, but on everyone he has ever met — a ripple effect that is positively changing lives for good.
Dr. Allen Linken
Dr. Allen Linken is widely recognized for his ability to inspire and empower, with many current and former students crediting him as a key influence in their academic and professional growth. Known for making complex concepts engaging and accessible, he brings deep expertise and a powerful enthusiasm to his courses. His passion for both the subjects he teaches and the learning process creates an environment where students are challenged, supported and encouraged to think critically.
Linken’s dedication to student success is evident not only in his dynamic teaching style but also in the strong relationships he builds with those he mentors, preparing students for opportunities and environments beyond the University. By fostering intellectual curiosity and personal growth, he leaves a lasting impression on his students and the academic community as a whole.
The John Fraser Ramsey Award
The John Fraser Ramsey Award is not exclusively a service, leadership or academic award: it honors a distinctive kind of excellence. The Ramsey 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. It is awarded to a junior with broad interests related to the humanities who has exerted a positive influence on his or her contemporaries.
The Ramsey Award consists of a monetary award and a travel award in support of a Great Ideas Tour. The GIT is named for the signature class taught by John Ramsey in his 42 years as a history professor at UA and is the opportunity for Ramsey recipients to travel Europe and discover their own sense of possibility and responsibility within a global humanity. While encompassing aspects of both the best vacation and the most demanding study abroad program ever, the GIT is neither. Members of the Ramsey Board help recipients craft informed, intentional tours that provide authentic encounters and space for reflection while embracing Ramsey’s joie de vivre.
Emily Adcock
Emily Adcock’s love of learning has taken her to several small communities in Alabama and earned her selective opportunities in England, Portugal and Cuba where she allowed every experience to enhance the next. Her peers describe her as an eager student of life who absorbs every detail of experiential learning.
Through her involvement with the Blackburn Institute, the Witt University Fellows Program and the Crossroads Civic Engagement Center, Adcock has developed a passion for civic engagement within Alabama. She is considered a scholar-leader whose interests range from culture and history to voting rights, policy and health care. Her leadership roles in UA Vote Everywhere and with Ripple Arts Review, a digital magazine for arts criticism and journalism, further support Adcock’s ambitions. She is poised to take every learning experience and enact positive change through cultural dialogue in the state of Alabama and beyond.
The Catherine J. Randall Award
Recognizes the most outstanding student scholar at UA based on GPA, rigor of course study, and extraordinary scholarly or creative endeavor; applicants may come from any academic program of study, as scholarly and creative activities from within all majors will be considered for this award.
Benjamin Trost
Benjamin Trost’s career at the Capstone can’t be defined by grades alone. The senior is already a respected, published researcher who works to protect Alabama’s incredible environment and the people who call its rivers and forests home. Trost is not just uncovering problems; he is an integral part of the solution.
Throughout his years at UA, Trost has been recognized for his outstanding and extensive research projects in ecology, conservation biology and the environmental humanities. In 2024 he was named a Udall Scholar, the first UA student to earn the honor in 20 years. His peers and professors describe him as someone whose intellectual rigor and coding skills put him in the arena of senior graduate-level students.
The Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award
The award honors one member of this academic year’s graduating class as well as one non-student. The recipients of the award have demonstrated the highest standards of scholarship, leadership and service. This award recognizes the practical application of noble ideals and is based on excellence of character and service to humanity.
Yonathan Janka
Yonathan Janka’s career at the University has been nothing short of remarkable, not just for his academic achievements, but also for his pursuit of excellence in research, scholarship, leadership and service to others.
Janka is often noted as one of the brightest students to represent Honors College over the past several years. His professors are consistently impressed by how his love of learning translates to who he is as both a student and friend to the UA community. He also serves as a resident advisor, peer tutor and research ambassador for the Office of Undergraduate Research where he holds office hours for other students to seek guidance.
Anyone who has met him would say his dedication to advancing student perspectives and experiences through mentorship and leadership throughout campus is second to none.
Kay Scott
The impact Kay Scott has had on her peers, students and even those beyond the UA campus is profound. Her colleagues in the Capstone College of Nursing commend her exceptional dedication to advancing mental health and recognize the invaluable support she provides to her students. Scott’s teaching approach — rooted in rigorous and innovative methods — challenges undergraduate nursing students to stay engaged and well-prepared, regardless of the path they choose in their nursing careers.
Her collaboration with campus partners includes connecting CCN with the UA Counseling Center to facilitate a suicide prevention education session for faculty. Beyond campus, she actively collaborates with Caring Days Senior Adult Program and Capstone Village, advocating for essential support resources and engaging students in meaningful community initiatives. She also encourages students to participate in various mental health and community engagement events, such as the Out of the Darkness Walk, to raise awareness for suicide prevention.
Graduate School Premier Award
This award honors a graduate student whose University of Alabama experience encapsulates the University’s tripartite mission of teaching, research and service.
Solomon Ajasa
Solomon Ajasa embodies the University’s mission of teaching, research and service in countless ways. From his childhood, his mother instilled in him that education can change more than just one person; it can change communities.
Ajasa is developing future industry leaders through experiential learning and believes that teaching is the most rewarding aspect of his academic career. His research efforts and expertise have led him to collaborate with local and national entities to develop safety standards for all those touched by disasters, from homeowners to first responders and everyone in between.
As president of the Graduate Student Association, Ajasa has set goals for the graduate class, including advocating for improvements in quality of life, harnessing skills through workshops and expanding mental and physical health resources. His leadership roles include being an inaugural member of the Graduate Ambassador Influencer Network, a Tide Together mentor and a leader within the International Peer Advisory Council.