Miss Courtney Carr, a Pan-African Studies student in the Department of African American Studies won the Carol Mills Young Study Abroad Scholarship given by the College Language Association (CLA) at their annual convention. The CLA was founded in 1937 by a group of Black scholars and educators in response to their denied acceptance into the Modern Language Associaton due to the explicit bias of the era. Today, scholars of color worldwide attend the conference as its members of English and Foreign Language backgrounds participate in academic, scholarly, and professional interests within the collegiate communities they represent. Miss Carr, who will complete a summer externship in Tanzania in the summer of 2019, will study female genital cutting and use the scholarship as part of her research subsidy. Dr. Casarae L. Gibson, assistant professor of African American Literature and Studies, is a member of CLA and served as faculty sponsor for Miss Carr's CLA proposal.

Miss Jo Johnson, an African American Studies major won an Undergraduate Research and Creative Works Grant (URCW). Miss Johnson is expected to conduct original research or creative works under the direction of a faculty mentor that promotes innovation, diversity, inclusion, and creativity. Dr. Linda Carty will serve as Miss Johnson's faculty mentor for the summer and fall of 2019.