The President’s Commission on the Status of Women presented its annual Outstanding Women Awards to recognize the contribution of individuals to improving the status of women.
Nominees are recommended by their peers and selected by committees made up of current Women’s Commission members. Awards are given in five categories: Outstanding Academic Faculty Award, Outstanding Staff Award, Outstanding Graduate Award, Outstanding Undergraduate Award, and the McCrary Student Award for Outstanding Service.
This year’s winners:
Robin Kowalski was presented with the Outstanding Faculty Award. She has been a psychology professor at since 2003 and recently created Social Justice, a Creative Inquiry group that focuses on raising awareness about human trafficking. Kowalski has been researching gender-related topics more than 20 years. Her research has been cited more than 5,000 times in academic literature. She also speaks to middle and high school students about bullying and cyberbullying.
LayLa Burgess was recipient of the Outstanding Staff Award. A research specialist in the Department of Entomology, Soils and Plant Sciences. She holds a Master of Science degree in plant sciences and a master’s in forest resources from Clemson. She has worked in Joseph Culin’s lab since 2005. During this time, she has mentored several undergraduate and graduate female students and has hired temporary technical staff for the lab, many of whom are local women.
Garrison Stevens received the Outstanding Graduate Award. She is pursuing a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering and hopes to become a professor to encourage other female students to confidently pursue a career in Civil Engineering. Last fall she collaborated with seniors and graduate students in the Glenn Department of Civil Engineering to begin a mentoring organization for women and minority students new to the program. Her leadership qualities spill over into other areas of her life. In her junior year, Garrison was chosen captain of the Women’s Swimming and Diving Team and the team through its final season.
Emily Howard received the Outstanding Undergraduate Award this year. She serves as the vice president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and is a member of Psi Chi, the Psychology National Honor Society. Howard’s service work is exemplary: she has served on a mission trip to Honduras, organized the “Run for Boston” to raise money for victims of the Boston Marathon bombing and reaches out to local youth through the Athletic Department’s Solid Orange Squad.
Melissa Moore was presented the McCrary Student Award for Outstanding Service. Moore founded a research group called Poverty Ends with a Girl, which works to improve opportunities for young women abroad, and participated in an internship during summer 2013 working with Rainbow Village, a not-for-profit transitional housing program in Georgia. The McCrary Student Award for Outstanding Service was created in 2005 to honor the late Thea McCrary, a former captain of the Clemson University Police Department and one of the first members of the Women’s Commission.
The President’s Commission on the Status of Women was established in 1994 by President Max Lennon to improve the quality of life for women at Clemson.
