Each year the Alliance of Professionals of African Heritage (APAH) applauds the academic achievements of UNLV students and hosts the Alliance of Professionals of African Heritage Awards Ceremony and Graduation Celebration.
This annual event recognizes students attending UNLV who have achieved Academic Success, Outstanding Scholarship, Leadership and Community Service; acknowledge our 2024 outstanding graduates and the academic excellence recipients.
For more information, please call 702-895-4777.
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Roosevelt Fitzgerald Outstanding Student Award
About the Award
The UNLV Alliance of Professionals of African Heritage (APAH) is accepting nominations for the Roosevelt Fitzgerald Outstanding Student Award in Academic Achievement, extracurricular activities and Leadership roles at UNLV.
This award is presented to students in good standing, based on academic performance, campus leadership, and extracurricular activities at UNLV. The awards will be presented during the annual APAH Awards Ceremony. The recipient(s) will receive a UNLV Book Award.
If you have any questions, address your concerns to Esther Langston, Chair of the Roosevelt Fitzgerald Award Committee, at esther.langston@unlv.edu.
About Professor Roosevelt Fitzgerald
Roosevelt Fitzgerald served the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and the Las Vegas community as a lecturer, Chair of the Anthropology Department and as Director of the Ethnic Studies Program. For all those who knew and loved him, he will always be remembered as “Fitz”. Professor Fitzgerald joined UNLV’s Anthropology Department in 1971, and retired in May of 1996.
Born on April 14, 1941, in Natchez, Mississippi, Roosevelt “Fitz” Fitzgerald grew up attending Catholic school in the Jim Crow era of the South. He received his bachelor’s degree from Jackson State University in 1963 and his master’s degree from Notre Dame University in 1968. Professor Fitzgerald often related his story of a black man attending an Ivy League school to push for national desegregation.
Professor Fitzgerald loved teaching African-American history and took an interest in the roles African-Americans played in Nevada. “Fitz” became well known as a researcher and writer of the history of the black experience in Las Vegas. In addition to his academic writing, he wrote a column on Black History for the Sentinel-Voice newspaper in Las Vegas.
After an extended illness, “Fitz” died in October 1996. Professor Fitzgerald left a living legacy at UNLV and in Las Vegas through his vigorous promotion of excellence in academic pursuits.
The UNLV Alliance of Professionals of African Heritage honors Professor Fitzgerald’s promotion of academic excellence with the Roosevelt Fitzgerald Outstanding Student Award in Academic Achievement and Leadership.
Thomas Wilson Community Service Award
About the Award
This is a call for nominations for the UNLV Alliance of Professionals of African Heritage (APAH) Thomas Wilson Community Service Award. Awards will be presented at the annual awards ceremony.
The Thomas Wilson Community Service Award is presented to students based on their achievements in community service and academic achievement while attending UNLV.
If you have any questions, address your concerns to Esther Langston, Chair of the Thomas E. Wilson Award Committee, at esther.langston@unlv.edu.
About Thomas Wilson
Thomas E. Wilson, Ph.D. was born in 1927. He earned a bachelor's degree in education in 1950 and a masters degree in education in 1961, both from Arizona State University. He served as a teacher and assistant principal at Mary Bethune School, as well as an education specialist for Operation LEAP (Leadership and Education for the Advancement of Phoenix) in Phoenix, Arizona.
He was the first African American professor hired in 1969 in the College of Education at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He came to Las Vegas in 1969 after earning a doctorate in education at Arizona State University. His areas of specialization were multicultural education and reading, and he was recognized as a person dedicated to teaching, community service, and research throughout his career.
The contributions that Wilson made to the College of Education and community along with those of his colleagues in the developing years of the College of Education now allows us to look to the future with optimism and high aspirations.
Wilson is credited with establishing the first multicultural education course in the College of Education and the university. His weekly educational columns in the Las Vegas Voice on Educating the Black Child inspired many parents and community members. The College of Education continues to practice and expand the academic concepts that Wilson asserted through dedication toward academic excellence.