2021 Student Awards

Outstanding Junior Student Award:ĚýKatherine Brown; Eli Cooper; Jordan McGinty

Outstanding Senior Student Award:ĚýAnam Ahmed; Chidum Okeke; Julie Nwosu; Scotland Stewart

Outstanding Student Awards for Graduate and Professional Students:ĚýBrittney Corniel; John Dickens; Kaitlyn Nally; Mike UdohĚý

G.R.O.W.T.H. Award:ĚýMason McCellon; Morgan Mercer-Long; Amanda Keaton; Elizabeth Frazier; Phagan Marksberry

Spirit of Service (Individual): Kayla Payne

Social Justice and Inclusion Award (Student Group or Organization):ĚýAmerican Medical Association/Kentucky Medical Association Medical Student Section Louisville (AMA/KMA/MSS Louisville)

Outstanding Cultural Program:ĚýInternational Fashion Show, sponsored by the Student Activities Board

Outstanding New Program:ĚýCardinal Continuum,Ěýsponsored by the Student Organization Advisory Board

Outstanding Program of the Year:ĚýWhite Coats 4 Black Lives, sponsored by the Student National Medical Association (SNMA)

2021 Department AwardsĚý

DRC Student of the Year Award: Benjamin MitchellĚý

Intramural Supervisor of the Year: Erica Huston

SRC Front Desk Employee of the Year: Maddie Nuxoll

SRC Weight Room Employee of the Year: Daniel Hanson

HSC Employee of the Year: Scott Capece

Outstanding Student Employee Award:Ěý

• Danial Arsalan Malik, School of Medicine Division of Infectious Diseases
• Dillard Collier, Political Science
• Liz Corrao, Intramural and Recreational Sports
• Trinidad Jackson, School of Public Health & Information SciencesĚý

Advisor of the Year: Jamieca Jones, advisor for Women 4 Women, American Association of University Women, Student Parent Association, United Nations Association for Women

Outstanding New Organization of the Year: The Cardinal EdgeĚý

Student Organization of the Year Under 50 Members: Spanish Alliance of Louisville Unifying Diversity (SALUD)

Student Organization of the Year 50+ Members: raiseRED Dance MarathonĚý

ACC Top Six for Service Awards

• Kaylee Wheeler
• Jenna Servi
• Meghan Schneider
• Sam Minrath
• Katlyn Harbsmeier
• MaKenzie Kelley

Adult Learner Awards

• Quinones Corniel, Jr.
• Dr. Meera Alagaraja
• Darla Samuelsen

Outstanding Metropolitan College Student Award: Lillian Medley

Campus Housing Desk Staff Member of the Year:ĚýRachel Wilson

Campus Housing Facilities Student Staff Member of the Year:ĚýAustin Bullitt

Campus Housing Graduate Student of the Year:ĚýJenna Slotten

Campus Housing Marketing and Communications Staff Member of The Year:ĚýNicole Hurtado-Doctai

Campus Housing Resident Assistant of the Year:ĚýOrville Thomas

Campus Housing Technology Assistant Leader of the Year: Keegan Perry

Outstanding PEACC Center Volunteer AwardĚýĚý

• Lorin Holloway
• Anthony (AJ) Potter
• Destinee Coleman
• Holly Zoeller

International Student and Scholar Center Award:ĚýThuy Trang Do

Fraternity and Sorority Life Chapter AwardsĚý

Outstanding Alumni Engagement: Alpha Omicron Pi

Outstanding Campus Program:ĚýDelta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

Outstanding Communications and Branding:ĚýSigma Chi

Outstanding Community Engagement:ĚýAlpha Omicron Pi

Outstanding Member Development:ĚýSigma Phi Epsilon;ĚýDelta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.;ĚýKappa Delta

Outstanding Philanthropy:ĚýSigma Chi; Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.; Kappa Delta; Sigma Kappa

Outstanding Risk Prevention and Accountability:ĚýSigma Chi; Kappa Delta

Fraternity and Sorority Life Individual Awards

Servant Leader of the Year:ĚýBenjamin Gerdes

New Member/Neophyte of the Year:ĚýTanner Jones; Andreyah Crittenden; Cheyenne Bayne

Senior of the Year:ĚýBenjamin Barberie

Council Officer of the Year:ĚýRose Diffey

Chapter President of the Year:ĚýJohn Wolfe; Casey Porter

Fraternity Man of the Year:ĚýDalton Everett

Sorority Woman of the Year: Emma Lawson

.Ěý

As she stood in front of the National Pan-Hellenic Council plots outside of the admissions building during homecoming in October of 2020, Terina Matthews Davis was almost in tears. Her decades-old fight to empower Black Greek life on UofL’s campus was coming to fruition.Ěý

The National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) was established at Howard University in 1930 with the purpose to “foster cooperative actions of its members in dealing with matters of mutual concern.” In Davis’ words, “NPHC, to me, embodies the principles of Kwanzaa.”

Although NPHC did not have a presence on UofL’s campus until 1992, Black Greek life was at the core of the Belknap campus’ student life for several years prior.

“We were an HBCU (Historically Black College or University) within a PWI (Predominantly white institution),” said Dr. Beverly Dilworth Frye, a 1988 College of Arts and Sciences and 1995 School of Medicine graduate. “The Black community was very close knit. We were a huge commuter school – most students were gone at 5 p.m. and the only people left on campus were African American students.”Ěý

There were only a handful of Black Greek members on campus when Frye was a freshman in 1985. While she was somewhat familiar with historically Black fraternities and sororities as the stepdaughter of a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, it wasn’t until a casual conversation in the lobby of Miller Hall that she decided to pursue membership in a Delta Sigma Theta.

Without an active chapter on UofL’s campus, there was work to be done. With the help of some like-minded women and a persuasive petition to area and regional alumnae, the Xi chapter of Delta Sigma Theta reactivated at UofL in 1988. The oldest collegiate chapter of any Black Greek organization in Kentucky, originally chartered in 1922 at Simmons College, welcomed Frye in a group of 10 women that spring.Ěý

The sorority’s reactivation followed a group of men initiated to Omega Psi Phi just a week before and line of women initiated to Alpha Kappa Alpha the previous semester. Their chapters were joined by Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity and, in seemingly no time, there was an active Black Greek presence at the University of Louisville.

“It just seemed like this fire that was catching on, but we still didn’t have our own entity,” Frye explained.

By the time Davis, a 1993 graduate of the College of Arts and Sciences, set foot on campus, eight Black Greek organizations were active at the university.

“Because of [Dr. Frye], I’m a Delta,” Davis said. “If there hadn’t been those 30 women who wrote that letter, Xi wouldn’t be here.”

Although she says she’d advise against it, Davis was dead-set on attending a school with a Delta chapter. Without that petition in the 80s, Xi may not have existed at UofL when the soon-to-be-voice of the students’ fight for NPHC was choosing a university.

When Davis was initiated in 1990, Black Greek organizations were operating under the guidance of the Panhellenic Council and Interfraternity Council (IFC). ĚýAlthough Black Greek organizations were required to have representation at IFC and Panhellenic meetings, some chose not to attend. Davis noticed stacks of missed-meeting fines piling up in the fraternities’ mailboxes, which was a catalyst for change. Black Greek organizations needed guidance that truly represented them. They needed a place for themselves within UofL’s campus to do the work of Black Greeks and the Black community. They needed NPHC.

The road did not come without a few bumps along the way.

As the student government vice president at the time, Davis had a seat at the table to represent the Black Greek community – and she used it. She used it to represent students who historically did not have the choice to join a Greek organization, so they made their own. She used it to voice students’ desire for an organization that would foster the needs of the Black community and would allow students to thrive in a space that was uniquely their own.

Initially seen as a form of separation by administration, the request for NPHC was not immediately met. The students didn’t waver. Instead, they became more persistent. They took up camp in front of the administration building to ensure their collective voice was heard by Dr. Golden, then-vice president of Student Affairs. When they were brought inside, in an act that could only be described as “true grit” by Keira Martin, UofL’s Coordinator for Fraternity and Sorority Life, they slept in front of his office.

“It wasn’t just the Black Greek community, [IFC and Panhellenic] had to support us,” Davis explained as she noted that the groups showed support by bringing food to the administration building. “At the end of the day, we knew that we all had to come together to make this a reality.”

Their efforts paid off in 1992 when Golden agreed to meet with then-National NPHC president, Daisy M. Wood, a Delta from the Louisville Alumnae chapter. Soon after, NPHC was brought to the University of Louisville which is now home to chapters of each of the Divine Nine historically Black fraternities and sororities.

After being founded in 1913, Delta’s first act of social activism was to participate in the women’s suffrage march. Frye noted that since the sorority was established, the active members and alumnae have continuously used their voices to say that Black people, Black women, matter.

“[Rosa Parks] didn’t know what that day would result in,” Davis noted. “I need Black students to understand – don’t give up the fight.”

Frye and Davis agree, the fight for social justice does not end after graduation.Ěý

“At the end of the day, you take away Delta Sigma Theta, you take away Alpha Kappa Alpha, you take away Zeta Phi Beta, Sigma Gamma Rho, you remove Omega Psi Phi, Kappa, we’re still African American men and women who endure the same struggle,” said Frye. She tearfully continued, “The fight that Terina and the NPHC organization went through, it established a place that belongs to us on the University of Louisville’s campus.”

Awarded to the fraternity’s most outstanding senior, the Balfour Award has three levels. First is the chapter award, followed by awards for each of the fraternity’s 61 provinces and finally, the prestigious International Balfour Award. As the recipient of the IBA, Romes will serve on the fraternity’s Executive Committee for two years.

With this award, Romes joins a long list of distinguished honorees who include Keith Krach, Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and Environment.

With tough competition from Sigma Chi chapters across the United States and Canada, one does not receive the IBA without a laundry list of accomplishments. As the president of the Iota Lambda chapter of Sigma Chi, working as a Cardinal Ambassador, membership in the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, involvement with the Speed School Student Council, working part-time at the startup FreshFry LLC, and working co-ops with Lexmark International, it’s safe to say Romes was heavily involved as an undergraduate.

In addition to this extensive involvement, Romes was also an active participant with raiseRED during all four of his years at UofL. During his sophomore and junior years, he was a team leader for raiseRED – a student run fundraising organization that culminates each year’s efforts with an 18-hour dance marathon to benefit the UofL Department of Pediatric Oncology and Hematology. He wanted to raise the bar during his senior year.Ěý

“Going into senior year, I had to give everything I had,” he said.Ěý

He ran for the executive board of raiseRED and was selected as a programming director. In this role, Romes was a catalyst to the organization’s success in 2020, which included a record amount of money raised to fight pediatric cancer.Ěý

As the president of the Iota Lambda chapter of Sigma Chi, Romes made the decision to focus the fraternity’s fundraising efforts on raiseRED. He developed a spreadsheet with projected dollar amounts to keep the organization’s fundraising efforts on track and made it a point to reach out to chapter alumni for donations.

“It’s all about the ask,” Romes stated plainly. “Most [alumni] are more than willing to give.”

Between the roughly 80 members signed up for raiseRED, Sigma Chi brought in just under $80,000 of the record-breaking $690,991.70.

“I don’t like bragging,” said Romes, “but to put it pretty plainly, basically nothing like that in terms of fundraising on UofL’s campus has ever happened by a single organization.”

When it comes to fundraising strategy, Romes’ was simple, yet carefully executed. He focused heavily on “the ask”, tailoring templates to send the most effective, impactful emails to potential donors ranging from co-workers to alumni.

Romes found success with raiseRED by setting concrete goals with direct action plans. As a new member of the Sigma Chi Executive Committee advocating for undergraduates, his outlook is similar.

Young alumni engagement, an emphasis on mental health and diversity and inclusion training are at the top of Romes’ list when it comes to this new role. From providing resources for salary negotiation to home finance, Romes has placed a lot of importance on setting up his Sigma Chi brothers for success.

It’s clear he’s already hit the ground running and he is motivated to keep going. Romes, who is currently pursuing his master’s degree in chemical engineering at UofL, said he is honored to have received this honor.

“I just hope that I can live up to the title in the next couple of years,” Romes admitted. “It is a little bit of pressure but it feels really cool.”

The course was made available for the fraternity brothers as part of Pi Kappa Alpha’s overall mission: “developing men of integrity, intellect and high moral character and to fostering a truly lifelong fraternal experience.” Membership development chair, Alex McGrath, and chapter president, Alex Barnum, said it is important to provide their members valuable life skills such as CPR.

“We wanted to give the men life development skills that people should but don’t have,” McGrath said.

Ěý“How better off can you be than to have 20 to 30 people in a room at any given time who have that (CPR training) capability?” Barnum added.

The CPR is just the tip of the iceberg of endeavors pursued by the fraternity. The Kappa Zeta Chapter of the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity, commonly known as Pike, joined UofL in 1995. Since then, Pike’s members have regularly volunteered at Cochran Elementary, even creating the Cardinal Club, which provides in-school tutoring and mentorship.

Pike has also raised philanthropic awareness through events such as Spin for Steven and the Fireman Challenge.