Eight years ago, Dr. Shonda Goward and other members of the Washington D.C. Black Alumni Carolina Club started working toward creating a scholarship that recognized one of UNC's Black pioneers.
Specifically, the group intended to honor Floyd B. McKissick Sr., the first African-American to receive a law degree from UNC. But the scholarship never came to fruition.
Still, Goward, a 1999 Carolina graduate, hoped to one day recognize McKissick. So after returning to UNC last May as an academic director in the Office of Scholarships and Student Aid, she approached Dr. Marcus Collins, the associate dean and director of the Center for Student Success and Academic Counseling, about establishing an award named after McKissick.