ESU Fall 2013 Graduating Student Lyesha Fleming Receives Shirley Chisholm Award

Posted by: admin on December 13, 2013, 2 Comments

Lyesha Fleming is the Fall 2013 undergraduate student recipient of the East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania Shirley Chisholm Award for her ongoing demonstration of excellence in learning, sensitivity to social issues, and commitment to activism.

East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania recently bestowed the Fall 2013 Shirley Chisholm Award on undergraduate sociology/psychology major and political science minor, Lyesha Fleming. This award is sponsored by ESU’s Commission for Women, Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity, the ESU Graduate College, the Women’s Studies minor and the Women’s Center.

The Shirley Chisholm Award was established in 1991 after Shirley Chisholm, the first African-American woman to be elected to Congress and the first to run for United States president, was awarded an honorary doctoral degree from ESU. The award honors graduating female students who, like Shirley Chisholm, are dedicated to academic excellence, are sensitive to issues of social justice, and committed to activism.

Fleming will receive her bachelor’s degree from ESU with a double major in sociology and psychology and a minor in political science on Saturday. She was named the Shirley Chisolm Award recipient based on her academic accomplishments. She has been inducted into the Psi Chi Psychology Honor Society, Pi Sigma Alpha Political Science Honor Society and will be inducted into the Alpha Kappa Delta Sociology Honor Society.

In addition to Fleming’s impressive academic achievements, she has shown an important sensitivity to social issues. She is a member of Voices of Triumph Gospel Choir, International Student Alliance, Women for Awareness/Feminist Alliance, Students Against Destructive Decisions, and is also a member of the Pre-Law Society. She has volunteered in the university’s International Student Buddy Program to help three graduate students from China and Gambia adjust to ESU and life in the United States. She has reached out to others through her work as a tutor/counselor for Upward Bound and as a peer mentor for Student Support Services. In addition, she has been active in the Barack Obama Campaign Fellowship, she has hosted debate-watching parties on campus and helped register voters both on and off campus. She also is involved in the Adopt-a-Block clean-up program.

The achievements of this extraordinary young woman clearly demonstrate a commitment to academic excellence, sensitivity to issues of social justice, and a concern to engage in actions to advance those causes.