In recognition of her academic achievement and commitment to the university community, Patricia Cunningham received a Student Recognition Award at the last Board of Trustees meeting from Kevin R. Filiatraut, graduate student trustee.
“I met Patty just as I was first applying to become a student trustee. To put it bluntly, she knocked my socks off, and I never forgot her,” Filiatraut said.
Cunningham is a senior in sociology, women studies and geology with minors in African-American studies and Jewish studies, but her academic involvement is only the tip of the iceberg.
She is a member of the Multicultural Planning Committee, Registrar’s Advisory Council Board, President William “Brit” Kirwan’s Diversity Council, the Women’s Studies Undergraduate Forum, Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, United Black World Month Committee, the Heritage Festival Committee and Hillel.
As if that isn’t enough, Cunningham serves as co-president of Experience Diversity, diversity chairwoman for Taylor Tower, co-chair of the USG Community Enhancement Initiative Fund and co-chair of Hotep-Shalom.
“Patty is one of the most committed people I have met since I enrolled at Ohio State. In fact, the word ‘committed’ not only describes the large amount of time she puts into her activities, but the way she feels about those activities as well,” Filiatraut said. “It is this dual commitment of time and passion toward the goal of inspiring people to step outside themselves in their experiences that makes her a truly unique individual and one quite worthy of this distinction.”
“We’re all in this together. It makes life worth living when you live it for someone else,” Cunningham said of her many activities.
Two other students have been recognized by Filiatraut, Darrell Bryant in pharmacy and Edith Kang in dentistry. Both were nominated by their college deans.
“Patty’s case was special and I recommended her to the board without going through her academic dean,” Filiatraut said.
