State University of New York at Fredonia graduating senior Monica A. Manney was selected to receive the 2019 Lanford Presidential Prize, to be awarded at Commencement on May 18.

The award, generously created and endowed by President Emeritus Oscar E. Lanford and Mrs. Esther Lanford through the Fredonia College Foundation, recognizes a member of the graduating class who has exhibited balanced achievement and exemplifies Fredonia’s ideals.

Ms. Manney will receive the award at the afternoon Commencement ceremony.

Manney is from Buffalo and attended Nichols School. She is completing a B.A. in Communication-Journalism at Fredonia with a minor in Sociology and a second self-designed Interdisciplinary Studies minor in Applied Research in Civil Rights. Her current GPA is 3.95.

Her passions for activism and using her voice to rally change are reflected in her leadership as a student at Fredonia: as President of Sister Circle, Events Chair of the Black Student Union and Under This Bonnet, Co-Anchor of WNYF-TV, a Fredonia Ambassador, writer for The Leader and an Upward Bound Tutor. She has been leading efforts for FREDFlo, an initiative to provide sanitary products in restrooms across campus.

Manney has completed internships at Walt Disney World, NBC University, Make-a-Wish Foundation and at Fredonia’s Career Development Office. She is currently completing internships at WGRZ and Spectrum News, and this spring was selected as one of 12 students from across the nation to participate in the Diversity Fellowship Program sponsored by Capitol Broadcasting and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Media and Journalism. She defines her personal mission as “to amplify the voices of marginalized groups and bring truth to her community through avid research and persistent questioning.”

This summer, she will be an intern at CNN.

A Keeper of the Dream Scholar, Manney is a member of Tau Sigma National Honor Society, Lambda Pi Eta Honor Society, Golden Key International Honour Society, the Fredonia Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, the National Association of Black Journalists, the Buffalo Broadcasters Association and the Buffalo Urban League.