Tom Shick Award
Given to undergraduate or graduate students who have “maintained a high academic standing and who have demonstrated the intellectual vigor and concern for racial equality that epitomized the life of Tom W. Shick”, recipients are selected annually by the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Alumni in conjunction with the Department of African American Studies. The Tom Shick Award rewards a student with $1,000.
Students will be nominated for this award. Preference will be given to African American Studies majors and certificate students.
Dr. Tom Wing Shick (1947-1987) received his M.A. (1970) and Ph.D. (1976) from the Department of History at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He joined the Department of African American Studies (then Afro-American Studies) in 1977. Additionally, Dr. Shick was an academic consultant for the U.S. Department of State, Carnegie Corporation (Kinte Library Project), The Institute of the Black World, and The National Endowment for the Humanities (Highlander Folk School Project). At the time of his death, he was writing a book on the late Dr. Martin Luther King.
2026 Tom Shick Award Recipients
Dr. Tom Wing Shick (1947-1987) received his M.A. (1970) and Ph.D. (1976) from the Department of History at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He joined the Department of African American Studies in 1977. Dr. Shick was an academic consultant for the U.S. Department of State, Carnegie Corporation (Kinte Library Project), The Institute of the Black World,…
Heaven Williams, Micah Scarlett, and Rayna Cunningham receive the 2025 Tom Shick Award
The Tom Shick Award is given to undergraduate or graduate students who have maintained a high academic standing and who have demonstrated an intellectual vigor and concern for racial equality that epitomizes the life of Tom W. Shick. Shick came to UW–Madison as a graduate student in 1969 and became a lecturer in 1973. Shick…