UGA Black Alumni

Monroe Abram is this year’s co-honoree for the Bill Chilsolm Professional Service Award presented by the The NATA Ethnic Diversity Advisory Committee. This award recognizes an individual who has contributed to the development and enhancement of ethnically diverse athletic trainers. Abram is currently a Certified Athletic Trainer for Vanderbilt Sports Medicine. This is not the first time Abram has been awarded for his work in sports medicine. He has previously won the Collegiate Athletic Trainer of the Year from Tennessee Athletic Training Society and an Above the Call Award two years in a row from The Training and Conditioning Magazine.

In his spare time, he mentors students who would like to become athletic trainers and serves on the TN Athletic Trainers Society board.

The Admitted Student Reception in Athens was a success. We enjoyed talking to the prospective students on why they should make the University of Georgia their home.

ALA was one for the books! We learned so much on how to serve our alumni and students. Our very own Rodd Cargill won Volunteer of the Year, and we also won Council of Year!!! We could not have done this without your supp and engagement. Thank you so much, and we hope to continue the success.

Last Sunday, Black Alumni 'answered the call' to support UGAs 2024 Atlanta Celebration Reception for our newly Admitted Students.

We had a wonderful time with the students and their families. We hope they will be UGA freshmen in the fall and 'Commit to the G'!

Here are scenes from this wonderful event held at the
Georgia Aquarium.

UGA Alumni Association

The University of Georgia is accepting nominations for its Footsteps Award. This annual award recognizes a UGA graduate each year who is following in the pioneering footsteps of Charlayne Hunter-Gault (ABJ ’63), Hamilton Holmes (BS ’63) and Mary Frances Early (MMED ’63, EDS ’67). Nominations are due April 15th. Link in comments.

As we continue the festivities, we wanted to quickly remind everyone that you can join the 1961 Club by donating $196.10 to the Black Alumni Scholarship Endowment. This is the last month to donate this amount to earn an invite to the June Donor Event. What better time to fill the requirement than donating during Dawg Day of Giving. Link in comments.

It's almost Dawg Day of Giving Day, but you don't have to wait until March 26th. Give today to the Black Alumni Scholarship Endowment by using the link in the comments.

The Black Alumni Networking Lunch hosted by was a huge success this year. The panelist and alumni gave great advice that both students and alumni should use.

There is still time to nominate an alum for 40 Under 40. Nominations close on March 25th.

Mark your calendars. We're Calling the Dawgs on March 26th for Dawg Day of Giving. This is the perfect opportunity to give to the Black Alumni Scholarship Endowment. If you would like to give today, the link is in the comments.

Paving the way since 1961

It was not too long ago when Hunter and Holmes set forth the motion to make the University of Georgia a place for Black students to learn and grow.

In the spirit of paying it forward, the Black Alumni Leadership Council encourages you to find ways to give back and encourage our Black students at the university. One way you can do this is by joining the 1961 Club by giving $196.10 to the Black Alumni Endowment Fund. These funds ensure students, regardless of their socioeconomic status, are able to continue their education here at Georgia.

If you give $196.10 by March 31st, you will be invited to the 1961 Club Donor Event this June.

On February 8th, the College Football Playoff Management Committee appointed University of Virginia Director of Athletics Carla Williams to the CFP Selection Committee.

A native of LaGrange, Ga, Williams was a three-year starter for the Lady Bulldogs from 1987-89. Williams was then an assistant coach on Hall of Fame coach Andy Landers’ staff from 1991-96, including teams that reached the 1995 and 1996 Final Fours, with an NCAA runner-up finish in 1996, and won the 1991 and 1996 SEC Championships. Following the 1995-96 season, Williams moved into administration. She served as UGA’s assistant director of compliance from 1996-97 before continuing her ascent up the administrative ranks at Florida State, Vanderbilt, and Georgia. Williams is the first African American woman to hold the associate athletic director position at Georgia. Currently, she is in her seventh year as the Director of Athletics at UVA and is the first African American woman to lead an athletic department at a Power 5 school.

She has won numerous awards including Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia’s Athens Woman of Distinction, UGA Athletics’ Bill Hartman Award, the Women in Sports and Events’ Woman of the Year Award. Lastly, in 2022, she was named SEC Trailblazers as part of its celebration of the 50th anniversary of Title IX.

BAC is hosting the third annual Black Alumni Networking Lunch on March 17th at 2 pm. This is a great way to connect with students and help them with their next steps after college. If you would like to attend, please go to the link in bio and fill out the questionnaire.

Rex Benham ended up at the University of Georgia Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources after his older brothers, who were already attending UGA, assured him they would show him the ropes on campus. Benham became the first African American to receive his bachelor’s degree from the school in 1982. Today, he works with contractors to transport about 550 loads of trees a week to conversion facilities across East Texas, managing the care of the forest in that area.

Sharon N. Tucker (JD ‘74) became the first female African-American graduate of the University of Georgia School of Law. In her long career Tucker served in roles at the Albany office of the Georgia Legal Services Program, the Earl Warren Fellowship Program in the San Francisco office, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and at the Albany, Georgia Law Firm of Mary Young & Associates. She went on to later become a faculty member and pre-law advisor at Albany State University, and eventually served a dual role as University Counsel and Chief of Staff for eight years. Additionally, she took active positions in community service organizations, including the Board of Trustees for the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation, the Board of Directors for Liberty House, a member of the Advisory Committee on Law and Criminal Justice at the Washington Center, and the Board of Directors for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Albany and the Dougherty County Hospital Authority Board. She has been the recipient of many awards, including the 2018 and 2019 Beverly Burton New Board Member of the Year Award for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Georgia and the Southeast Region, 2016 Recipient of the Justice Leah Ward Sears Award for Distinction in the Profession by the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys, the 2016 Recipient of the USG Chancellor's Recognition for Distinguished Service to the University System of Georgia, and the 2015 Trailblazer Award by the UGA Black Law Student Association.

Margaret Vaughn (BBA ’70) was the first Black woman to graduate from Terry College of Business.

After graduation, she began working at the IRS and retired from there in 2004. She has now started her own tax consulting practice and currently serves on the boards of organizations that provide guidance to promising young people.

“Being a trailblazer in 1970 meant there were no African American female role models, no mentors, for me at UGA,” Vaughn says. “There was no one to call to ask for directions.

“This is why I am determined to have an impact on the lives of as many students as I possibly can. Just as someone saw a possibility for me, I am certain there are CPAs waiting among the students within my reach.”

In the 70s, some of the first African-American students to graduate from the College of Family and Consumer Sciences were Cathy Dunaway, child development/mental retardation; Marian Turnipseed, clothing and textiles; and Bridget Weaver, dietetics.

The third annual William T. Robie III Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Lecture and Award will be held today, February 8, at 12:30 pm in the College’s large auditoriums for current UGA students.

This lecture and award were named in honor of William T. Robie III (BS ‘70), the first African American student and graduate from the College of Pharmacy.

After 35 years of working in pharmacy, he retired in 2015. Robie has shared that it was not his goal to be the first at anything. He just wanted to have a good college degree and a good career in life. Today, he continues his philanthropy by partnering with the Dean Student Feldman Summer Science Institute.

Shirley Mathis McBay (PHD ‘66) is the University of Georgia’s first Black doctoral graduate and the first woman to earn a doctoral degree in mathematics from the university.

McBay went on to be a leading voice for diversity in science and math education. In 1980, she was named dean of student affairs at MIT, where she was once again the first Black person and the first woman ever appointed to this position.

The Science Library at the University of Georgia was named for McBay in December 2021 in honor of her legacy as a passionate leader in STEM who was committed to fostering access for all. She was also awarded the 2022 Alumni Merit Award posthumously.

It’s the beginning of Black History Month, and there is no better time to learn about some of the many trailblazers that have come through the school. Throughout the month, we will be highlighting alumni who were the first to ever do it at UGA.

Harold Alonza Black, Mary B. Diallo and Kerry Rushin Miller were the first Black freshmen to enroll and graduate from the University of Georgia. They graduated undergrad in 1966.

Monica Pearson is an award-winning journalist who informed generations of Georgians. She is the first woman and first minority to anchor the daily evening news in Atlanta, where she worked for 37 years at the leading station, WSB-TV. When she retired in 2012, she was honored on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives by the bipartisan delegation of Georgia for her years of service on and off the air to improve the lives of its citizens. The Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication awarded Pearson with the John Holliman Jr. Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020.

Pearson couldn’t stay away from us too long because she began hosting Monica Pearson One on One on PeachtreeTV, A Seat at the Table on Georgia Public Broadcasting and most recently joined the AJC to host The Monica Pearson Show, a video and podcast interview program.

We look forward to tuning into her shows as she continues to inform the masses.

In August 1962, Mary Frances Early made history as the first Black student to earn a Graduate degree from UGA. She earned a master’s degree in music education.

To honor Ms. Early, Ms. Yvette K. Daniels will deliver the 2024 Mary Frances Early Lecture. Ms. Daniels currently serves as the Director of University Relations for the Georgia Department of Public Health with responsibility for employee engagement, the Applied Learning Program, and establishing effective college and university relationships through the promotion of public health programs at the state and local level. Ms. Daniels completed her term as the 77th president of the UGA Alumni Association in summer 2023; she was the first Black female president of the organization.

Meet the panelist for the GAAME Experience Mentoring Dinner. There is still time to register. The link is in the comments section.

Celebrate and cultivate meaningful, life-long connections among the Black or African American male community at UGA through mentorship and attend the GAAME Mentoring Dinner on February 2nd. Registration in comments.

Happy Founders Day to Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.!

Congratulations to the honorees receiving 2024 FACS Alumni Awards!

Cross headlines FACS Alumni Awards honorees | UGA FACS The UGA College of Family and Consumer Sciences will honor several outstanding alumni and induct Aleene Cross into its Honor Hall of Recognition at the 45th annual Alumni Awards event on March 22.

Happy Founders Day to Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.!