Award Nominations

This award goes to an HGSE alumni.

The AOCC recognize annually an HGSE alum who has demonstrated commitment to equity in issues of race, class, and education. The award recipient will exhibit strength in at least one of the following categories:

• their work in defining the root causes of systemic oppression and challenging the racial and intersecting injustices that adversely impact communities of color.
• their perspectives of identity and/or cultural identities that shed light on issues of injustice in education.
• their personal/ professional work that dismantles oppressive structures and forges a new legacy through activism.
• the valuable work they have done that encompass best practices for working with and within communities to improve the educational and life outcomes for ALL students.

Successful nominees may be practitioners, activists, artists, researchers, scholars, policymakers...they may be found in single schools, networks, neighborhoods, communities, cities, businesses, nonprofits, organizations, districts, states, systems, or elsewhere.

The AOCC awards annually an HGSE staff member who has demonstrated commitment to educational equity in the spirit of Tina Hansar. Christine “Tina” Hansar had a long and fulfilling career in student services at HGSE where she was loved by students and colleagues. Specifically, she was instrumental in the successful acclimation of many students of color to the HGSE environment through her kindness, compassion, and empathy for the challenges minoritized students face in predominantly white institutions. She was a true advocate for student initiatives and played key roles in student-initiated events to honor the personal, political, and intellectual assets that these students bring to educational organizing and knowledge-building. In her honor, the Christine “Tina” L. Hansar Award for Commitment to Educational Equity recognizes the work of a current HGSE staff member who demonstrates Tina’s advocacy for student-led initiatives to transform the HGSE environment and education broadly in the pursuit for equity and excellence. The award recipient will exhibit strength in at least one of four categories:

• their perspectives of identity and/or cultural identities that shed light on issues most salient to them.
• their work in highlighting the inter-connectedness of power, privilege, and oppression.
• their personal/ professional work that explore the current and historical narratives and educational experiences of previously “unseen” groups such as rural students, Arab/Arab American, Middle Eastern, first generation college students, undocumented students, African Diaspora, immigrants, students with disabilities, religious minorities, globalization, storytelling and empowerment, changing demography of the US, and other suppressed and oppressed voices of today.
• the valuable work they have done that encompass best practices for working with and within communities to improve the educational and life outcomes for ALL students.

The AOCC awards annually an HGSE student who demonstrates through their work commitment to educational justice in the spirit of Kolajo Paul Afolabi. At the moment of his untimely passing in fall 2011, Kolajo Paul Afolabi, Ed.M. ‘10, was a doctoral student who studied higher education -- a devoted friend, partner, and family member and an active member of the HGSE and AOCC community. His particular commitment was to support low-income, first-generation youth in their pursuit of higher education. Kolajo was determined that all young people should have the opportunity to afford, attend, and graduate from college. In his honor, the Kolajo Afolabi Award for Commitment to Educational Justice recognizes the work of a current HGSE student who demonstrates Kolajo's mission to use academia as transformative pursuit for equity and excellence. The award recipient will exhibit strength in at least one of four categories:

• their work in defining the root causes of systemic oppression and challenging the racial and intersecting injustices that adversely impact communities of color.
• their perspectives of identity and/or cultural identities that shed light on issues of injustice in education.
• their personal/ professional work that dismantles oppressive structures and forges a new legacy through activism.
• the valuable work they have done that encompass best practices for working with and within communities to improve the educational and life outcomes for ALL students.

The AOCC Faculty Award for Educational Equity annually honors an HGSE faculty member who demonstrates a strong commitment to equity in issues of race, class, and education. 
The award recipient not only empowers individual students on their educational journeys, but also contributes to the greater community.
Faculty are nominated for going above and beyond in their dedication to equity in the classroom, in their research, and in student mentorship. 
The award recipient will exhibit strength in at least one of four categories:

• their work in defining the root causes of systemic oppression and challenging the racial and intersecting injustices that adversely impact communities of color.    
• their perspectives of identity and/or cultural identities that shed light on issues of injustice in education.
• their personal/professional work that dismantles oppressive structures and forges a new legacy through activism.
• the valuable work they have done that encompass best practices for working with and within communities to improve the educational and life outcomes for ALL students.

The AOCC annually honors a current HGSE student or alum who demonstrates a strong commitment to education as the practice of freedom and shared humanity in the spirit of Turner Cooper (he, him, his). In the midst of the pandemic and persistent racial terror during the 2020-2022 online and hybrid years, Turner Cooper would light up every virtual and physical room he entered with a question, a dance, a song, a smile, and an insatiable appetite for justice and joy. He was the heartbeat and soul of his class and wove connections and community with purpose and love. He was the connective thread that tied his community together and he created bonds so strong that when he became an ancestor, we had no choice but to find our way toward each other. The AOCC Turner Cooper Award honors and celebrates a current HGSE student or alum who embodies and exercises a people-first approach to education (not schooling) as they fight, dance, and sing their way toward liberation, purposely weaving connections to create beloved communities within, against, and in spite of toxic conditions and enactments of oppression. Recipients of this award are celebrated for their ability to have a positive impact on their peers and community and engage in the intentional centering of people. The award recipient will exhibit strength in at least one of four categories

• Their work in defining and actively seeking to heal the root causes of systemic oppression and challenging the racial and intersecting injustices that adversely impact communities of color
• Their perspectives of identity and/or cultural identities that shed light on the importance of centering trauma and healing in education.
• Their work to actively build and sustain supportive and loving communities within and beyond HGSE, and engage in People-First Practices.
• The valuable work they have done to consistently center having a positive impact when working with and within communities to improve the educational and life outcomes for ALL students.