WAU Students Receive Regional Award for Community Service

Caption: Stephan L. McDavid, Esq., president of the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Foundation; Nikole Donovan, student; and Weymouth Spence, WAU president; are pictured during the awards ceremony.

Story by WAU Staff; Photo by Randolph Robin

This year, for the first time, Washington Adventist University (WAU) in Takoma Park, Md., presented the Sullivan awards on April 23 to two students in recognition of their demonstrated passion for community service. Nikole Donovan, an undergraduate who is majoring in social work, received the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award and Louise Griffin—a student in the School of Graduate and Professional Studies (SGPS) who is earning her master’s degree in healthcare administration – received the Mary Mildred Sullivan Award.

“The WAU community is excited to pause and recognize outstanding members of our community,” said Ralph Johnson, PhD, dean of WAU’s Betty Howard Center for Student Success.

Since 1890, the highly prized Sullivan awards have been presented on the campuses of colleges and universities across the American south. These institutions all reflect the interest of prominent lawyer, businessman and philanthropist Algernon Sydney Sullivan and his wife, Mary Mildred Sullivan, to educate and honor deserving students. The awards are named for the Sullivans to honor their lives of service. The awards themselves are bronze medallions, each accompanied by a framed certificate and a biography of either Algernon Sydney Sullivan or Mary Mildred Sullivan.