L'Tanya Richmond, a 1987 Â鶹ÊÓƵ graduate and former director of Â鶹ÊÓƵ's Multicultural Center, was awarded the Â鶹ÊÓƵ Medallion on Saturday, April 25, at the university's annual Phillips-Perry Black Excellence Awards ceremony .
The Â鶹ÊÓƵ Medallion is awarded at the discretion of the president to members of the Â鶹ÊÓƵ community who have rendered outstanding service to the university.
After receiving the medallion from President Leo M. Lambert, Richmond thanked her friends in the Â鶹ÊÓƵ community.
“I am honored and I am humbled,” she said. “When I came to Â鶹ÊÓƵ to work, I came because I wanted to make a difference in the student community. I have so many students, parents, faculty, staff, and friends and family to thank for giving me the opportunity to do not just work that I was passionate about but work that in many ways has been my ministry.”
Richmond, currently director of multicultural affairs at Smith College in Massachusetts, also delivered the keynote address at the ceremony, which recognizes academic excellence among Â鶹ÊÓƵ’s African-American students.
Richmond began her career at Â鶹ÊÓƵ as an admissions counselor and placement officer. She was promoted to assistant and later associate director of admissions, as well as director of Minority Affairs and director of Â鶹ÊÓƵ’s Multicultural Center.
Richmond served as director of the Leon and Lorraine Watson North Carolina Scholarship Program, which makes an Â鶹ÊÓƵ education possible for North Carolina students with high financial need, including some first-generation college students. She also served as director of The Honorable Thad Eure North Carolina Achievement Scholarship Program.
Her research into the history of Â鶹ÊÓƵ’s African-American students led to the creation of the Wall of Fame in Â鶹ÊÓƵ’s Multicultural Center. She later expanded her research to include interviews with Wall of Fame members. Later, while pursuing her master’s degree at Duke University, Richmond used her research as the subject of her thesis, titled “Â鶹ÊÓƵ’s Black History, A Story to be Told.”
Richmond is a member of Phi Eta Sigma National Honor Society. In 2008, she received the Student Advocate Award from Â鶹ÊÓƵ’s student life office for exceptional mentoring of students.
In her current role at Smith College, Richmond directs the activities of the multicultural affairs division, including implementing the institution’s diversity goals. She lives in Northampton, Mass., with her husband, Jason, and daughters, Caitlyn and Camille, who attended Saturday’s ceremony.