Two University of Georgia professors are receiving national honors for motivating former students to make a difference in their communities.
Dawn Bennett-Alexander, an associate law professor in UGA’s Terry College of Business, and Melisa Cahnmann-Taylor, a language and literacy education professor in the college of education, will receive the Elizabeth Hurlock Beckman Award during a ceremony in Atlanta next month.
The awards, named for one of the first female psychology professors at Columbia University, include a $25,000 cash tribute from the Beckman Award Trust. Since its origination in 2008, the trust has awarded more than $1.7 million to 73 professors and faculty. The UGA professors are the only two of the ten recipients from Georgia this year.
To qualify for the award, nominees must be current or former professors or instructors at a college, university, junior or community college or technical school. Teachers in the fields of law, medicine or psychology are recommended.
Bennett-Alexander was nominated by former student Randy Gold, the founder of JScreen, a nonprofit organization that operates an educational, at-home screening program for Jewish genetic diseases. Cahnmann-Taylor was nominated by former students Dell Perry Giles and Carrie Woodcock, who credit the instructor with inspiring them to open Georgia’s first two dual-immersion, bilingual, public K-8 schools, Unidos Dual Language Charter School in Clayton County and the World Language Academy in Hall County, which collectively serve 2,000 students and their families.
The awards ceremony is set for November 14 in Atlanta.
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