UA Announces Premier Award Recipients

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The University of Alabama has announced the top individual award recipients for scholarship, leadership and service to the University for 2003.

UA interim President Barry Mason announced the honors at the Presidential Awards Dinner held Saturday, Feb. 22, at 6 p.m. at the NorthRiver Yacht Club in Tuscaloosa. The recipients will also be recognized during UA Honors Week in an awards ceremony this spring.

The Morris Lehman Mayer Award is named in honor of 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 one faculty member and one member of the graduating class who exemplify integrity, selfless service and leadership at UA and in the community while making significant contributions to student life.

Ashley Fallon Ragsdale of Huntsville received the Mayer Award as the graduating recipient. Ragsdale has earned a 3.6 Grade Point Average in her major of biology and minor of psychology while participating in the Blount Undergraduate Initiative. She has served as vice president of Mortar Board, Capstone Men and Women and XXXI Women’s Honorary, president and founder of S.E.P.A. (Students for the Education and Prevention of AIDS), philanthropy chairman of Pi Beta Phi sorority, a member of Omicron Delta Kappa honorary, an inaugural member of the Blount Undergraduate Initiative, a teaching assistant for the department of biological sciences and was a Howard Hughes Undergraduate Medical Institute intern. In her college career, Ragsdale has also been named Most Outstanding Freshman by Omicron Delta Kappa, Most Outstanding Sophomore by Order of Omega and a Blackburn Fellow by the Blackburn Institute. Ragsdale also represented the state of Alabama at the International Mission on Medicine in South Africa, where she spent three weeks with 50 other students from throughout the nation learning the devastating effects of HIV/AIDS. She also volunteers with AIDS education and prevention in Alabama as well as serving as a child mentor for several Alabama organizations.

Dr. Jack Norman Baldwin has been selected as the faculty recipient of the Mayer Award, as an individual who embodies “servant leadership in the art of teaching,” according to a nominator.

Baldwin has been a professor at UA since 1988. He has served as UA Faculty Senate President, a position in which he had to tackle many politically sensitive issues. Baldwin has also advised doctoral students, directed independent study groups and has been involved with an off-campus doctoral program at Maxwell Air Force Base. He also serves as faculty adviser to student organizations such as Mortar Board and the Other Club, and as a facilitator for the Blackburn Institute. He is described by a nominator as “a consummate teaching professional whose career exemplifies creating opportunity and growth for all members of The University of Alabama community.”

This year’s 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 Nabeel Ahmed Memon of Tuscaloosa and Kana Anne Ellis of Northport.

Nabeel Ahmed Memon has maintained a 4.0 Grade Point Average as a biology major with a minor in the Computer-Based Honors Program at UA. His accomplishments include co-founding the Beta Beta Beta research journal JOSHUA, Journal of Science and Health at The University of Alabama, which provides a forum for UA students to publish their science and health research and “The Medical School Goes Paperless: Improving Access to Information for Improved Patient Care,” a research project for the Computer-Based Honors Program that will involve computer technology in the research and organization of medical care. Memon serves as an Arts and Sciences ambassador, a member of the top UA honor societies, and volunteers as a tutor and research student. He was honored as the 2002 Most Outstanding Junior and the 2001 Arts and Sciences Sophomore of the Year in his academic career at Alabama. In addition to his medical research, Memon has also observed and assisted physicians to learn more about the medical profession.

Kana Anne Ellis, last year’s recipient of the William P. Bloom Scholarship Award, has earned a 4.0 Grade Point Average in psychology with a minor in Spanish and the Computer-Based Honors Program. She is a member of all three of the University’s honors programs and has served as president of the Honor’s Program Student Association for three years. Under her term, the organization has reached its highest membership in history and undertaken numerous service projects. Ellis founded Alabama Action, a service program to immerse honors freshmen in community service in the state’s poorest schools.

Ellis was also recognized as the first “Honors Student of the Year” by the National Collegiate Honors Council. She is the Anderson Society vice president, The Other Club recording secretary and a member of the XXXI Women’s Honorary, the Blackburn Institute and Phi Beta Kappa honorary. With plans to enter law school, Ellis has done research for the Computer-Based Honors Program on the proportionality of the death penalty in Alabama with the UA School of Law.

Margaret Lee Watson received the Sullivan Award as a non-student honoree. Watson is a 1972 graduate of the Capstone, and she has worked as a teacher and guidance counselor in schools across the Southeast. She has served as president of the National Alumni Association in 1996-97, served in numerous positions in different alumni chapters and served on the executive committee as a national vice president. She has been active with Kappa Delta sorority, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, American Cancer Society, the Alabama Counseling Association, School Counselors Association and United Methodist Church. Watson has also been active in recruiting students. A nominator wrote, “I met numerous students who commented on the influence that she had on their decision to attend the University. Her enthusiasm and commitment to the University could not be any stronger.”

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 Kristin Gail Robinson of Birmingham. She has excelled in her major of social work and minor in psychology, achieving a 4.0 Grade Point Average and involving herself fully in the University and community service. After transferring to UA from the University of Georgia, Robinson quickly became involved in campus organizations such as the Undergraduate Social Work Organization, becoming president and founder of Bama Pro-Life and serving on the Avanti Orientation Team. Her honors include Avanti of the Year in 2002, Russell and Barbara Beaulieu Award for Social Work and the UA President’s List. Robinson also works as a research assistant, a task usually reserved for graduate students, on a project studying Attention Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder in children.

The William P. Bloom Scholarship Award honors a junior who has improved intergroup relations within the University community; this year’s recipient is Rashmee Nawar Sharif of Tuscaloosa.

Sharif embodies the characteristics of this award in many ways. As president of the International Student Association, she has made great steps to involve students of many different backgrounds and cultures in socialization and service.

She coordinated the first “Flava Fest” this year with SCAR (Student Coalition Against Racism) and AAA (African-American Association). This event was a success in mixing cultures and groups at UA. She has obtained a 3.62 Grade Point Average in international management with a minor in Spanish. Sharif has also studied abroad in Ireland and Italy and has made several visits to her homeland of Bangladesh. She has also been a part of the Alabama Model United Nations, the Women’s Leadership Institute and has been recognized by the University Honors Program for academic achievement.