Greensboro College Names Andrew Mails Outstanding Adult Undergraduate Student
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Greensboro College today presented Andrew Mails of Greensboro with the Likins Award, given annually to the outstanding graduating adult undergraduate student.
Mails, a sociology major with a 3.9 grade-point average, completed his degree while working full-time as executive director of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro’s Wesley-Luther Foundation, a community campus ministry partnership of the United Methodist Church and Evangelical Lutheran Church.
“In this capacity, he is a minister directing weekly services, hosts monthly community meals, has overseen creation of a college student food pantry, and engages in fundraising and grant work to bring services to the greater Greensboro community, just to name a few of his activities,” Robin Daniel, executive vice president and chief operating officer, said in citing Mails for the award.
A colleague of Mails wrote, “He has helped create a safe space for marginalized students and has fostered an inclusive and compassionate campus ministry where all are welcome. The campus ministry is built around service that Andrew himself models in his own life.”
A professor wrote, “Mr. Mails was probably the most dynamic intellectual I have had the pleasure of teaching. His critical understanding and grasp of the purpose of social theory was nothing less than profound. His extensive background in philosophy guided Mr. Mails through assessment of theoretical perspectives that I would expect from an advanced graduate student or professional sociologist.”
That professor continued, “Mr. Mails’s commitment to the liberal arts, the application of knowledge to better this world, his abiding commitment to the life of the mind and spiritual development, and his fantastic and welcomed willingness to engage in deep academic discovery create in him a Kantian universal student.”
The Likins Award was established in 1993 to honor Martha Grant and William Henry Likins, the 16th president of Greensboro College. The Likins Award is the most prestigious award presented to a graduating adult student as chosen by the faculty of the college.
The student receiving the award exemplifies the qualities of:
- academic excellence.
- love of learning.
- commitment to service and leadership in the community.
- perseverance while balancing family, education, and community activities.
- belief in the attainment of a dream.
- commitment to the pursuit of life-long learning.
Greensboro College provides a liberal arts education grounded in the traditions of the United Methodist Church and fosters the intellectual, social, and, spiritual development of all students while supporting their individual needs.
Founded in 1838 and located in downtown Greensboro, the college enrolls about 1,000 students from 29 states and territories, the District of Columbia, and seven foreign countries in its undergraduate liberal-arts program and four master’s degree programs. In addition to rigorous academics and a well-supported Honors program, the school features an 18-sport NCAA Division III athletic program and dozens of service and recreational opportunities.
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Media Contact:
Lex Alexander, Director of Communications
lex.alexander@greensboro.edu
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