Brown and Gold Awards Honor Adelphi Excellence

For 17 years, the Student Government Association and Center for Student Involvement have hosted the Brown and Gold Awards honoring student leadership. This year, of course, the Adelphi community could not gather on campus to celebrate the honorees. Instead of canceling the ceremony, on May 4, more than 80 students, faculty and administrators came together on Zoom.

President Christine M. Riordan opened the event by saying how, as a business professor, she would give her students a puzzle to complete but remove most of the pieces, an activity that encouraged her students to think creatively and strategically. She compared the puzzle to the world we are living in now, without edges or a clear picture. “It’s up to us, as a community, how we put our puzzle together,” she said.

What hasn’t changed, she commented, is the remarkable leadership she has seen from Adelphi students.

As the honorees were announced, attendees cheered one another on by clicking on Zoom’s clapping-hands emoji or offering congratulatory remarks in the chat box.

The night was a warm reminder of the dedicated and supportive community at Adelphi University—a community that will undoubtedly help each other put the pieces of our puzzle back together and come back stronger than ever.

Faculty Awards

• Professor of the Year: Timothy Sonbuchner, PhD, Lecturer, Chemistry
• Adviser of the Year: Jacqueline Johnston, PhD, Assistant Professor, College of Nursing and Public Health
• Commitment to Student Life: Sarah Eltabib, Senior Lecturer, General Studies; Anne Mungai, PhD, Associate Provost for Strategic Initiatives and Graduate Studies

Individual Student Awards

• President’s Student Leadership Award: Stacy Brief, Athena Fernandez, Jillian Hershman and CelyMaris Soto
• Excellence in Service: Jada Fletcher
• Excellence in Social Justice: Emma Martin
• Student Government Association Best New Senator: Tyler Masure
• Student Government Association Serving a Greater Audience: Franchesca Yusuf
• Outstanding Student Organization Officers : Avery Gaeta, Circle K International; Tasmiah Basher, Muslim Student Association
• Student Organization Officer of the Year: Helen Kouridakis, Commuter Student Organization
• Student Organization President of the Year: Biagio De Risi, Future Teachers Association
• Outstanding Commuter Student: Helen Kouridakis
• Outstanding Transfer Student: Taminque Blackwell
• Panther Pride Award: Marissa Flaherty
• Emerging Leader: Miguel Velasquez
• Emerging Leader: Viet Khue Cao
• Established Leader: Athena Fernandez
• Established Leader: Jillian Hajek
• Student Leader of the Year: CelyMaris Soto

Student Organization Awards

• Commitment to Organizational Growth: Philosophy Club
• Excellence in Philanthropy: Circle K International
• Beyond Adelphi: Physics Club
• Excellence in Recruitment: Females Of Culture United for Success (FOCUS)
• Excellence in Marketing: The Delphian
• Excellence in Programming: Latino Student Association
• Excellence in Collaboration: Muslim Student Association
• Outstanding Organization Management: National Student Speech Language Hearing Association and CALIBER
• Student Organization(s) of the Year: Latino Student Association and Future Teachers Association