Tower Awards Celebrate 27th Year

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More than 1,700 students were eligible for a Tower Award this year.

Contact

Courtney Hill
Communications Manager
Institute Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
courtney.hill@gatech.edu

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Summaries

Summary Sentence:

The 2021 Tower Awards hosted by OMED marked the 27th year the awards have celebrated the academic achievements of traditionally underrepresented minority students at Georgia Tech.

Full Summary:

The 2021 Tower Awards were hosted by OMED on April 8 and 9. This year marked the 27th year the awards have celebrated the academic achievements of traditionally underrepresented minority students at Georgia Tech.

Media
  • The 2021 Tower Awards were presented over three ceremonies to accomodate for social distancing. The 2021 Tower Awards were presented over three ceremonies to accomodate for social distancing.
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  • The annual Tower Awards are presented by OMED: Educational Services. The annual Tower Awards are presented by OMED: Educational Services.
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  • The 2021 Tower Awards were supported by more than two dozen corporate partners and sponsors. The 2021 Tower Awards were supported by more than two dozen corporate partners and sponsors.
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  • Amelia Smith Amelia Smith
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  • 2021 Tower Awards Welcome Video 2021 Tower Awards Welcome Video
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The 2021 Tower Awards were hosted by OMED: Educational Services (OMED) on April 8 and 9 across three ceremonies at the Georgia Tech Hotel. This year marked the 27th year the awards have celebrated the academic achievements of traditionally underrepresented students at Georgia Tech. Undergraduate and graduating graduate students were honored.

“On behalf of the Georgia Institute of Technology and the entire OMED team, I salute each of you for your hard work, your persistence, and your dedication,” said Georgia Tech alumnus and OMED Director Sybrina Atwaters via a recorded message played at the beginning of the ceremonies to honorees. “You join a select and proud slate of Tower Award recipients. Many, like myself, keep our awards in our homes and our offices to remind us of our ability to overcome any obstacle that we may face and to excel to the highest heights of excellence.”

More than 1,700 students were eligible for a Tower Award this year, up from 2020 and 2019.

Award categories included: Ph.D. Awards; Master’s Awards (graduating GPA of 3.5 or higher); Graduating Senior Awards (cumulative GPA of 3.15 or higher); Sustained Awards (cumulative GPA of 3.15 or higher); Yearly Awards (GPA of 3.15 or higher over the past three semesters); Transfer/Dual-Degree Awards (cumulative GPA of 3.15 or higher); and First-Year Awards (cumulative GPA of 3.15 or higher). Within each award category, except Ph.D. and Master’s Awards, sub-categories included Bronze (GPA of 3.15-3.49); Silver (GPA of 3.50-3.94); and Gold (GPA of 3.95 or higher).

Special awards were also presented: Laurentino Castro, Titilayo Funso, Jadon Pauling, Jasmine Ramirez, and Amelia Smith took home a Student Leader Impact Award; the Georgia Tech Black Alumni Organization Unsung Hero Award was presented to graduating undergraduate student Kusona Fortingo; and women’s basketball player Kierra Fletcher took home the inaugural Women of Color Student-Athlete Impact Award.

Emeka Obikwelu, who successfully defended his dissertation for a doctorate in electrical and computer engineering in February, said “I want to thank the sponsors for this program and, particularly, I want to thank OMED for doing such a great job – for all that they do.”

OMED, part of Institute Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’s Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion, was supported by more than two dozen corporate partners and sponsors who provided honorees with messages of support and raffle giveaways at the ceremonies.

To learn more about the Tower Awards, visit the OMED: Educational Services website at: omed.gatech.edu.

Additional Information

Groups

Institute Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (IDEI), Office of Hispanic Initiatives, Office of Minority Education and Development (OMED)

Categories
Institute and Campus
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Newsroom Topics
Campus and Community
Keywords
tower, diversity, URM, Award
Status
  • Created By: Courtney Hill
  • Workflow Status: Published
  • Created On: Apr 23, 2021 - 1:40pm
  • Last Updated: Sep 13, 2021 - 1:37pm