Crane Scholars

Crane Leadership Scholars

This past fall, 10 Honors students were recognized for their exemplary leadership efforts as recipients of the William Moore Crane Leadership Scholarship. The $1,000 scholarship, awarded to third-year students in the Honors Program, recognizes leadership in extracurricular activities and/or involvement with civic or community organizations. This year, students’ leadership experiences ranged from Refugee Outreach and Roosevelt UGA to Arch Society and Extra Special People, Inc. Administered by the Honors Program and the UGA Center for Leadership and Service, the scholarship is named in honor of a 1921 UGA graduate who was influential in the founding of the UGA Alumni Society.

Elizabeth Carter

Hometown: Augusta, GA

Major: International Affairs

Master’s degree: International Policy

Elizabeth explored her interest in public-private partnerships through her Honors in Washington internship at the U.S. Department of State (DOS) with the PEPFAR Private Sector Engagement team in 2019. She now serves as UGA’s campus coordinator for the DOS, coordinating with the Diplomat in Residence for the Southern region and connecting students to internship opportunities. Her SPIA student organization involvement includes the SPIA Student Union, of which she is president. Through SPIA Ambassadors, Elizabeth created and directs the SPIA Peer Mentorship Program. She also mentors students through the Honors PAL Mentorship Program. After graduation, Elizabeth intends to pursue a graduate degree in communication and design. She hopes to direct partnership and initiatives for a multinational corporation seeking to maximize its positive impact.

Landon Clark

Hometown: Leesburg, GA

Majors: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Genetics, Biology

A CURO Honors Scholar and Goldwater Scholar, Landon works with Michael Terns to research CRISPR-Cas, for which he received Best Paper Award at the 2019 CURO Symposium. He is a teaching assistant for the CURO Honors Scholar seminar class and served as the teaching assistant for Honors general chemistry. Landon is co-president of the Biochemistry Undergraduate Society. A member of the SGA for three years, he serves as the director of academic outreach. Landon holds executive positions on the Honors Program Student Council and UGA Red Cross and was inducted into Omicron Delta Kappa. In 2019, he studied abroad in Cortona and worked for Emory Children’s Center studying gene therapy treatments for immune disorders. Landon plans to obtain an MD/PhD in immunology and research immune disorders.

Allison Fine

Hometown: Marietta, GA

Majors: Marketing, Political Science

Certificates: Applied Politics, Personal & Organizational Leadership

An SGA senator, Allison is head of the diversity, inclusion, and equity committee, working with other senators to make UGA more accessible. Allison served as an Honors teaching assistant, an associate consultant in Terry Student Consulting, and a member of the judicial board for her sorority, Sigma Delta Tau. Outside of UGA, Allison supports the pediatric cancer community, having grown up a sibling of a pediatric cancer patient. As part of her Girl Scout Gold Award, Allison created a book containing stories by siblings of pediatric cancer patients to be distributed to siblings of newly diagnosed patients. In 2019, Allison published a Spanish language edition of the Sibling Story Project. After graduation, Allison plans to attend law school to work toward her goal of becoming a U.S. Supreme Court Justice.

Culzean Kennedy

Hometown: Atlanta, GA

Majors: Biology, Ecology

Minor: Global Health

With support from the CURO Summer Fellowship and CURO Research Assistantship, Culzean conducts research with Donald Harn, focusing on the development of a malarial vaccine with enhanced immunogenic capabilities. She is vice president of education for Refugee Outreach at UGA and a member of Gamma Sigma Sigma service sorority. Culzean served as a peer learning assistant for the Honors general chemistry course. She is an Honors teaching assistant and mentors in the Honors PAL Mentorship Program and the Odum School of Ecology. After obtaining a master’s degree in comparative biomedical sciences with an emphasis in infectious disease, Culzean hopes to volunteer with the Peace Corps or AmeriCorps programs before pursuing an MD. She hopes to work at a health NGO to improve healthcare availability and health practices globally.

Kelton McConnell

Hometown: Bishop, GA

Majors: Biology, Genetics, Psychology

Minor: Cellular Biology

As a member of the iGEM executive team, Kelton is working to develop a genetic promoter system to detect toxins in peanut crops. He works in Jesse Schank’s lab studying the effects of social defeat stress on alcohol consumption and depression-like phenotypes. Kelton volunteers as an administrative intern with Campus Kitchen at UGA and serves with Science Olympiad Outreach at UGA and IMPACT service breaks. Kelton is passionate about the connection between neuroscience and food and follows this passion as a member of the Undergraduate Neuroscience Organization. After graduation, Kelton will pursue a neuroscience PhD. He plans to be a professor at a research university and study connections between the brain and mental well-being with food and drugs.

John Morris

Hometown: Suwanee, GA

Major: Economics

Certificates: Personal & Organizational Leadership, Music Business

A CURO Research Assistant, John is researching housing vulnerability under the supervision of Grace Bagwell Adams. His interests are rooted in his work with local outreach organizations like Athens PBJ, Extra Special People, Inc. (ESP), and Muse UGA, which provides free music education to local middle school students. John assists in the Terry Data Analytics Lab and is a Leonard Leadership Fellow in the Institute of Leadership Advancement, a co-dean in the Dean William Tate Honor Society, and an Honors teaching assistant. In addition to working in the local music scene in management for two bands, Everyday Dogs and Hotel Fiction, he is a production intern at the 40 Watt Club. Committed to a career tangibly improving the lives of marginalized people, John is considering non-profit management or pursuing a PhD in economics.

Adanze Nnyagu

Hometown: Austell, GA

Major: Psychology

Minor: Studio Art

A chemistry tutor at the Academic Resource Center, Adanze is a member of the African Student Union and Minority Student Science Association, and president of the Abeneefoo Kuo Honor Society. In 2018, Adanze volunteered in Tanzania to build the foundations for teacher accommodations in rural areas. As vice president for the UGA chapter of the Nanka School Project (NSP), Adanze raises donations to support education in schools in Nanka, Nigeria, and collaborates with other organizations to raise awareness of important health and social issues. Adanze recently returned from a summer in Nigeria, where she assisted the national chapter of the NSP in distributing medications and school supplies. After graduation, Adanze plans to attend medical school and continue working with the NSP to improve the quality of health and education in Nigeria.

Anthony Potts

Hometown: Athens, GA

Majors: Economics, Political Science

Master’s Degree: Public Administration

Anthony is a Vinson Fellow for the Carl Vinson Institute of Government, a PSO Student Scholar at the Fanning Institute for Leadership Development, and executive director of Roosevelt UGA. He interned in South Africa with Lawyers for Human Rights, where his research project on unaccompanied migrant children prompted national policy creation by the South African Department of Health. A CURO Honors Scholar, he researches the information age and inequality. He has published professionally, presented at international conferences, and co-founded Humanitarian Informatics. Through this organization, he developed the largest statewide dataset of jail incarceration records, which is being used by groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union and Southern Center for Human Rights. Anthony plans to earn a JD/PhD in data science to promote algorithmic fairness.

Kiana Powers

Hometown: Norcross, GA

Majors: Political Science, Sociology

Minor/Certificate: Criminal Justice Studies, Personal & Organizational Leadership

Kiana serves as a justice in University Judiciary and a Leadership Fellow with the Institute for Leadership Advancement. She is an Honors teaching assistant and a mentor in the Global Buddies Program and Honors PAL Mentorship Program. In UGA’s Laboratory for the Study of Social Interaction, Kiana is working on social research projects in identity processes. She received the Ash Service Award to support her work as an intern with Athens-Oconee Court Appointed Special Advocates, a nonprofit that advocates for the rights of neglected and abused children. She created internship training materials and media contributions for presentation at the statewide Georgia CASA conference. Kiana intends to enroll in law school to pursue advocacy and policy work for vulnerable populations.

Christiny Reeves

Hometown: Macon, GA

Majors: Biology, Criminal Justice

Christiny (CC) is involved with UGA’s Center for Leadership and Service. She has led IMPACT servicelearning trips and has been a Dawg Camp peer mentor and counselor, Arch Society member, LGBT Resource Center ambassador, University Housing resident assistant, and Navigators at UGA ministry member. Community service and social activism are two of Christiny’s passions. Through UGA’s Inside-Out Program, she studied with persons incarcerated in Clarke County jails to learn about criminal justice reform. She tutors for Oasis Católico Santa Rafaela. In 2019, Christiny interned for the Georgia Department of Public Health in the Infectious Diseases Department, and she will intern with the St. Jude’s HIV clinic in Memphis this upcoming summer. Her long-term goal is to be a community health physician specializing in HIV/AIDS and a social activist for disenfranchised people.