Black History Month Student Recognition Awards
Kiana Parker was awarded $1000 and Samantha Garcia was awarded $500, in recognition of their scholarly research related to Black History. The John Jay College, Psychology Department, initiated the Awards to encourage general interest and academic research related to Black History. Professor Matthew B. Johnson noted, “We launched the awards this year with two key things in mind. To commemorate the 100th anniversary of Dr. Carter G. Woodson’s establishment of Negro History Week and to assert the relevance of Black History research, despite attacks on its value”.
Kiana Parker is a John Jay College Senior majoring in Global History. Her award winning, scholarly research was titled, ‘Headlines of Hate: Accusations and Newspapers in Early 20th Century U.S. Race Riots’. Kiana stated she wanted to analyze how racialized accusations have historically influenced public perception noting, “While I worked really hard on my paper, you never really expect this kind of recognition”. Kiana credited her History Professor, Allison Kavey for encouraging her to apply for the award. Currently, Kiana is not certain if she will pursue law school or graduate school.
Samantha Garcia’s research paper was titled, ‘Intersectionality and Wrongful Conviction: The Overlooked Experiences of Black and Latina Women’. Her paper was completed during her final semester (Fall of 2025), and she graduated with a Forensic Psychology major and minor in Counseling. Regarding her research, Samantha explained she wanted to focus on the wrongful conviction of women because it was a neglected area. She then became emotionally involved upon seeing, “… all these cases with individuals being sentenced to court after trying to save their baby, absolutely heart wrenching”. Samantha revealed her educational goal is to earn a Ph.D. in child psychology. She cited her mother’s encouragement as her primary inspiration.
The other five finalists for the awards were Benjamin Anatsui, Latitia Collins, Janiyah Isaacs, Allison Nunez, and Trent Shyrobi. All John Jay College undergraduates were eligible to submit scholarly research for the awards. The submissions were reviewed by a faculty panel chaired by Professor Demis Glasford and included Professor Evan Auguste and Professor Shanique Meyler.
The Black History Month, Student Recognition Awards and Reception are part of the on-going work of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Psychology Department, Diversity Committee (Professors Matthew B. Johnson, Kendra Doychak, Emese Illyes, Jacqueline Katzman, and Department Chair, Daryl Wout). The funding for the monetary awards was raised through donations by college faculty, alumni, and other supporters. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to support student Black History related research at this link https://www.jjay.cuny.edu/?form=BHMSRAward