Alyssa Bump with SUNY Fredonia President Stephen Kolison.

Alyssa M. Bump, a senior from Cuba, N.Y., has been selected to receive the 2023 Lanford Presidential Prize from the Oscar and Esther Lanford Endowment of the Fredonia College Foundation at the State University of New York at Fredonia.

The award, which recognizes a member of the graduating class who has exhibited balanced achievement and exemplifies Fredonia ideals, was generously created and endowed by the late President Emeritus Oscar E. Lanford and Mrs. Lanford. The prize will be presented to Ms. Bump at Commencement on May 20.

Bump will receive concurrent degrees at Commencement including a Bachelor of Arts in Communication-Journalism and Bachelor of Science in Communication-Public Relations, with a minor in English. To date, she has maintained a Grade Point Average of 3.9 out of 4.0. She was also a teaching assistant in two Department of Communication courses in 2022.

A member of the President’s Student Cabinet since 2022, Bump has also served the university community as a President’s Ambassador.

She has been the Editor in Chief of The Leader student newspaper since June 2021, and is its Design and Chief Copy editor, as well as former Life and Arts Editor. As Editor in Chief, Bump has earned accolades for her editorial and leadership skills, with one group of faculty/staff noting in its nomination document, “The past years have brought controversial stories to The Leader, which she has handled with the sensitivity and maturity of a professional.”

Regarding the impact of her varied and wide-ranging activities on campus, it was noted, “She engages at a level rarely seen in an undergraduate student, and she does so with professionalism, integrity and self-awareness. She empathizes with peers as well as campus personnel at all levels. She is a realist and yet works with fantastic energy to make an impact.”

Bump has earned Dean’s List standing throughout her university career, has been named to the Lambda Pi Eta honors society in Communication, and is a participant in the Honors Program. She is the recipient of the Anne Bernstein Memorial Award, the Arthur R. Maytum Scholarship, and the Richard and Pamela Ryan Scholarship, all established through the Fredonia College Foundation. She was also named to the Alma Mater Society, and was the 2022 recipient of its Marc Cohen Award.

During the summer of 2022, Bump was an Intern Reporter for the Chautauqua Daily, the newspaper of Chautauqua Institution, producing over 50 articles over eight weeks. The summer of 2021, she served as an Intern Reporter with The Journal of Americana Music, a publication of the Sportsmen’s Americana Music Foundation.