Undergraduates were in the spotlight today as the University of Maryland Eastern Shore held its 72nd annual Honors Convocation. The campus community filled the Ella Fitzgerald Center to celebrate student academic achievements, including dean’s list honors for the 2024 fall and spring semesters (minimum 3.5 GPA), departmental distinction (minimum 3.7 GPA), departmental honors (an outstanding student from each department) and a coveted Award of Excellence for the most outstanding student in each of the university’s Schools.
The top honor for the School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences was presented to Tracy Ewli-Kwakutse (below), who also received Human Ecology’s departmental honor. The Award of Excellence recognizes demonstrated leadership, outstanding academic work, integrity, the ability to work with peers, the potential for continued scholarly work and evidence of overcoming physical or personal obstacles to earn a degree.
Ewli-Kwakutse is a senior from Montgomery County, Maryland, slated to earn a bachelor’s degree with a concentration in fashion merchandising during UMES’ 2025 Spring Commencement. The UMES Land-grant Scholar and Richard A. Henson Honors Program Vanguard has maintained a 3.9 GPA at UMES while being an active volunteer, student club (Models Collective) member and intern with industry businesses. She is originally from Accra, Ghana.
Her commitment to volunteerism shows through her leadership role in The President’s Closet, a campus initiative providing free business attire to students preparing for interviews and corporate roles, along with other community-based outreach projects.
Ewli-Kwakutse has sought opportunities to augment her studies. She interned at e-commerce businesses, including Hugo Boss and being Max Mara’s inaugural summer intern, and has lined up a spring internship with the Allure Brand and Media Agency as a campaign operation and assistant brand strategist intern. Her case study submission to the Virgil Abloh™ Post-Modern competition recently earned her a $10,000 scholarship from its Fashion Scholarship Fund.
Ewli-Kwakutse’s pursuit of being top in her field led her to New York for her junior year of study at UMES. There, she attended the Fashion Institute of Technology where she earned an associate’s degree in advertising and marketing communications as part of a cooperative program.
“Her journey is a testament to resilience, innovation and the power of strategic thinking, qualities that will undoubtedly shape her future success in the fashion industry,” said Dr. Grace Namwamba, chair of the Department of Human Ecology.
Departmental Honors
For its departmental honor recipient, the Department of Agriculture, Food and Resource Sciences selected Nigel Jackson, a sophomore from Dayton, Ohio, pursuing dual bachelor’s degrees in agribusiness management and accounting. While maintaining a 3.9 or higher GPA, Jackson has served as a mentor for UMES freshmen and a prolific member of campus organizations, including MANRRS and the National Association of Black Accountants.
The UMES Land-grant Scholar has also participated in professional activities through the Thurgood Marshall College Fund (DevCon participant), the Vanguard HBCU Explore Program and Corteva Agriscience.
Jackson recently completed a 14-month experience as an auditing intern with Perdue Farms Inc. in Salisbury, Maryland to elevate his classroom skills. Last year, he was an Experiential Learning for Undergraduates Scholar working on a research project studying the dietary patterns of spot fish within the Maryland Coast Bay ecosystem.
Oluwatomisin (Tomisin) Salami of Ohio, originally from Nigeria, is the outstanding student for the Department of Natural Sciences. Salami is a senior majoring in biology with a concentration in pre-med. She maintains a 3.9-4.0 GPA and aspires to become a physician-scientist specializing in epidemiology and oncology.
“Tomi is drawn to studying how diseases spread and impact populations, as well as identifying risk factors and developing preventive strategies. Understanding these larger patterns, she believes, can lead to better health outcomes at both the individual and community levels,” said Dr. Jonathan Cumming, chair of the department.
As an LSAMP participant at UMES, Salami has worked as a research assistant in Dr. Tracy Bell’s lab studying the effect of zinc chloride on nhe3 gene expression and oxidative stress in the kidney of zebrafish. She has honed biomedical lab techniques, such as dissecting the fish to extract genomic DNA, and has presented her research at national conferences. Salami has also conducted research at Harvard University on a project using advanced imaging techniques to observe early-stage germ cells.
Gail Stephens, agricultural communications, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences, UMES Extension, gcstephens@umes.edu, 410-621-3850.
Photo by Todd Dudek, agricultural communications, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences, UMES Extension, tdudek@umes.edu.
