Garren Awards celebrate students, campus leaders for outstanding contributions to diversity and inclusion

The annual Garren Excellence in Diversity Awards are a celebration of Roanoke College’s diversity and multicultural learning opportunities. Several students and campus leaders were recognized during the 2024 ceremony: 

• Rising Star Award: Dejuan Mercado ’27, a biology major from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 
• Department/Division Award: Theatre Department
• Student Organization Awards: Black Student Alliance and Student Veterans Association
• Morgan Churchman Legacy Award: Cierra Mangum ’24, an education studies major from Ringgold, Virginia  
• Faculty Award: Alice Kassens, John S. Shannon Professor of Economics
• Staff Award: Alyasa Jones, director of multicultural education and retention
• Joanne Cassullo Upperclassman Award: Amari Yerby ’24, a psychology major from Chesapeake, Virginia
• Maxine Fitzgerald Trailblazer Award: Seanice Bowser ’24, a psychology major from Chesapeake, Virginia 

The ceremony also included the presentation of a video documenting a student trip to St. Croix, led by the Office of Multicultural Affairs, to learn firsthand about the region’s history and culture. The video was shot and produced by Robert Lamour ’25, a business administration major with a concentration in marketing.  
 
The upperclassman award was renamed in honor of Joanne Leonhardt Cassullo ’78, a Roanoke trustee and tireless advocate of the work done by the Center for Studying Structures of Race. Cassullo was surprised by the honor.  
 
“To the students today, I want to say that I do what I do because I love you,” she said. “You are our future. I hope in the years to come you will stay involved and that you will be in leadership positions just like me.” 
 
Fourteen students submitted entries into the Bonilla Legacy Essay Contest, which was created in collaboration with brother and sister Catherine Bonilla ’14 and Cesar “Chico” Bonilla ’19, the Office of Multicultural Affairs and the Roanoke College Board of Trustees.

Student awardees are recognized for their commitment to their communities and the lives of others through leadership, mentorship, civic engagement or research. Three students were recognized with prizes and scholarships:

• First place went to Brian Schwenk, a psychology major from Check, Virginia
• Second place was awarded to Claudia Disbrow, a health and exercise science major from Richmond, Virginia
• Third place was Fadzai Nyarugwe, an environmental studies major from Zimbabwe

After the award presentation, an alumni panel co-sponsored by PLACE discussed networking, diversity and professionalism with the students. The panelists were:  
 
Matt Clarke ’08, a public affairs officer for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. At Roanoke, Clarke was a Kappa Alpha Order member and continues to work with current students in the chapter as an advisor. In college, he interned with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. He encouraged students to do internships and make the most of the networking opportunities and internship offers.    

Antonio Gonzalez ’19, sports sales manager for Visit Virginia's Blue Ridge. As a student, he was an officer in Pi Kappa Phi, supervisor for club sports and interned with Salem City Parks & Recreation. He said his internships helped him understand the pressure associated with working. Sometimes it’s a positive pressure, he noted, much like at Roanoke when your professors set high standards, but you learn that you can meet them.

Adrian Gillem '15, a senior engineering program manager with Microsoft in Washington, D.C. Gillem advised students to look at networking as building professional friendships and partnerships. He also talked about the horizon-expanding opportunities that studying abroad offers to students.  
 
The Garren Excellence in Diversity Awards are organized by the Office of Multicultural Affairs. The event is named for Kenneth Garren ’62, who served Roanoke as a mathematics professor, associate dean of academic affairs and later vice president and dean of the College. It was through his leadership that the Office of Multicultural Affairs was created in 2000.