Meet the 2022 CI Lyman T. Johnson Honorees

The 31st annual Lyman T. Johnson Awards ceremony honored multiple College of Communication and Information honorees. Recent baccalaureate graduates Camille Wright and Sabriel Metcalf each received a Torch Bearer award, alumna Yalonda Green received a Torch of Excellence and postdoctoral researcher Aurora Santiago-Ortiz received the Postdoctoral Fellowship.

These scholars of color were among the yearly selection that colleges and units across the University of Kentucky choose for these awards. Students with academic achievement and impactful efforts receive the LTJ Torch Bearer Award. Alumni whose faith, hard work and determination have positively impacted the community receive the LTJ Torch of Excellence Award. Finally, postdoctoral researchers whose research contributes to the interest of diversity at UK and in their profession can apply for and receive the LTJ Postdoctoral Fellowship.

One of CI’s torch bearers, Camille Wright (ISC, 2022), spent her undergraduate career trying to be as involved as possible to help make Lexington feel like home. Out of the seven organizations and clubs she participated in, she was most proud of her contributions to DanceBlue to help end childhood cancer.

“I'm so, so honored to be a recipient of the Lyman T Johnson Torch Bearer Award,” Wright said. “It truly means the world to me that CI has so much love and support for me. Their support has really helped me achieve my goals and ambitions while at UK.”

CI’s other torch bearer, Sabriel Metcalf (JOU, 2022), channeled her interests in media, social and current events, and life skills into her undergraduate experience. Some of her most notable accomplishments stemmed from her time with the Picture Kentucky photojournalism workshop and the National Association of Black Journalists, where she served as co-PR chair.

“I believe it is intuitive for me to want to make a difference,” Metcalf said. “It is beyond an honor to receive such an acknowledgment and from this university specifically. Knowing that I am a part of the very men and women like Lyman T. Johnson or Mary Ann Adams who stood before me is incredible. I am glad to be another example for my peers and those coming after us.”

Torch of Excellence recipient Yalonda Green (MSLS, 2019) has left a lasting impact on libraries since she started her master’s program. From providing youth services in public libraries in Louisville, Kentucky, to supporting scholars in academic libraries in Delaware, she has been using her library science degree—along with her English, communication and humanities degrees—to better serve her community.

“I see my life as a channel for connection and encouragement,” Green said. “To know that my life adds value to the world by being myself and walking my path gives me the courage to continue walking and working and moving in my own way through the world.”

Postdoctoral fellow Aurora Santiago-Ortiz spent her year of fellowship appointment working alongside School of Information Science assistant professor Fatima Espinoza-Vasquez on the multidisciplinary project “Developing an Emergency Sociotechnical Infrastructure with Lexington’s Latinx Community.” As an interdisciplinary scholar, she focuses on community-based, participatory action research as well as antiracist feminist pedagogies and methodologies.

“As a result of early exposure to structural injustice, I developed a strong commitment to working towards equity,” Santiago-Ortiz said. “I am absolutely honored to be a Lyman T. Johnson Postdoctoral Fellow. Johnson's civil rights work paved the path for desegregation in UK, and in the US writ large. His work continues to be relevant in the present, where antiracist education is under attack. My hope is to contribute my own grain of sand in this realm.”