UA social work alumna Shannon Hubbard, coordinator of Alabama REACH at The University of Alabama (UA), has been awarded the 2019 Judy Bonner Presidential Medallion Prize, a UA Premier Award. Premier Awards are the highest honors that The University of Alabama bestows.
The Bonner P
rize recognizes a member of the UA community who has gone above and beyond normal expectations to change the culture or implement new initiatives designed to advance the Alabama experience for all undergraduate students or a segment of the undergraduate population.
Hubbard has been director of REACH since 2015 when she came to UA from the Tuscaloosa County Department of Human Resources. The REACH program assists foster-care and other disadvantaged children in attending and succeeding at The University of Alabama.
When Hubbard began overseeing REACH, she saw her mission as finding ways for these students to achieve the kind of lives all college students aspire to, no matter their backgrounds. Since then, REACH has served more than 55 UA students, and Hubbard has strived to make sure they received every opportunity to achieve their goals. Hubbard also has bolstered the students’ academic efforts by finding financial and scholarship support.
Hubbard earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social work from UA.
The University of Alabama will recognize Hubbard and other 2019 Premier Award recipients – the top individual honors for scholarship, leadership and service — during Honors Week, April 1-5.
About Alabama REACH
Alabama REACH is a comprehensive support program designed to empower current and former foster youth, orphans, emancipated minors and wards of the state of Alabama to pursue higher education and graduate from college.