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Students recognized with Lyons Awards for service

The awards recognize exceptional service through departments, teams, clubs, residences and community projects.

Fourteen students recently received the James W. Lyons Award for Service for 2020 and 2021. The awards, established in 1981, honor the late James Lyons, who served as Stanford’s dean of students from 1972-1990.

The awards recognize exceptional service through departments, teams, clubs, residences and community projects. Senior Associate Vice Provost and Dean of Students Mona Hicks presented the awards to students at a virtual event held June 5.

The students honored were:

Kiara Bacasen for advocating for Stanford’s first-generation and low-income student community and strengthening the Architecture program’s initiatives for diversity and anti-racism.

Kylee Beck, Marilyn Frank, and Jade Goodwill for producing two virtual Stanford Powwows  that preserved the essence of a live powwow and established an innovative template for powwows across the country.

Ana Cabrera for improving Stanford’s undergraduate residential experience as an integral member of the ResX planning process and supporting the virtual residential experience during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bella Cooper and Tamara Morris for bringing Stanford’s diverse student community together by combining the efforts of the Stanford Concert Network, BlackFest, and the Stanford African Students Association to produce a virtual live concert.

Amy Fan for spearheading efforts to adopt equitable and holistic graduate admissions practices in the biosciences cluster, serving as a leader of BioAIMS and as a co-organizer of the inaugural Black in Immuno Week and the Black in Immuno organization.

Celine Foster for leading the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and Stanford community in the Justice for Black Lives fundraising effort that raised more than $200,000 and for creating a new governing board and a new constitution for the African-American Fraternal & Sororal Association.

Antonia Hellman for encouraging student civic participation through campus voter initiatives and government service and building Toucan, an innovative online platform that helped connect students during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ayinwi Muma for creating the Equity Lab Slack channel, dedicated to conversations about racial bias, anti-racism, and local action and leading organizations such as the Black Engineering Graduate Student Association.

Adam Nayak for connecting engineering practice, public service and environmental sustainability through leadership roles in several organizations; modeling the intersection of academic and public service work at the Haas Center for Public Service; and advocating for Stanford’s service workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

David Pantera for helping transform Full Moon on the Quad by incorporating a public service component and ensuring effective community service at the event by incorporating the Haas Center’s Principles of Ethical and Effective Service.

Jordan Smart for advancing diversity, equity and inclusion in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the School of Engineering and serving as a mentor to students in the SURGE and SURF summer research programs.