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Black Faculty, Staff Council presents awards

The Black Faculty and Staff Council honored the School of Law and several KU staff members and students with achievement awards this spring.

Hobart Jackson, president of the council and associate professor of architecture, presented the Unit Award to Gail Agrawal, dean of the School of Law, during ceremonies in April honoring black faculty, staff and students. The award honors an academic or administrative unit that exhibits a commitment to diversity in the workplace through any or all of the following activities: aggressive recruitment of African-American faculty or staff members; establishment of a work environment conducive to the retention of African-American faculty or staff members; and development and successful implementation of an ethnic diversity recruitment and retention plan. The Department of English, the School of Fine Arts and the School of Social Welfare are previous winners.

Pamela L. Scott, associate director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs, was the recipient of the Hobart Jackson Service Award for outstanding service toward African and African-American students and faculty.

The council recognized four KU students with Student Achievement Awards, valued at $500 each.

The awards recognize African-American and African students who are enrolled in at least 12 hours of undergraduate coursework or at least six hours of graduate coursework and who will be enrolled during the upcoming academic year.

The winners of the Anthony Brown Scholarship and the Joyce Jeltz High School Achievement Award were also honored.

The Brown scholarship is given by the National Pan-Hellenic Council at KU to a deserving student. The scholarship was established to honor the memory of Anthony Brown, a 2005 KU alumnus from Grandview, Mo., who died in 2006. The Jeltz scholarship was initiated privately by Joyce Jeltz, a longtime employee of KU and civil rights activist. Since her death in 1999, the council has given this award in her memory.

NOTABLE ALUMS

KU grad Cynthia Leitich Smith has become a well-known writer in and around Austin, Texas. The Library of Congress recently announced she is among 70 writers chosen to participate in the seventh annual National Book Festival. Smith has written several books for young readers. She graduated from KU and the University of Michigan Law School. She won the 2001 Wordcraft Circle Award for children's literature, but her latest novel, "Tantalize," is a dark fantasy.