A Trio of Women Scholars Honored With Prestigious Awards

Susan G. Esserman, the founder and executive director of the Support, Advocacy, Freedom and Empowerment Center for Human Trafficking Survivors at the University of Maryland Baltimore, received the Justice for Girls Award from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the historical civil rights organization founded by Martin Luther King Jr.

Esserman is a partner at Steptoe & Johnson LLP, a Washington, D.C.-based international law firm and served as deputy U.S. trade representative and assistant secretary of commerce during the Obama administration. Professor Esserman is a graduate of Wellesley College in Massachusetts and the University of Michigan Law School.

Renee A. Middleton, dean of the College of Education at Ohio University in Athens, was honored with the Lifelong Fellow Award by the board of directors of the National Association of Multicultural Rehabilitation Concerns for her service as president of the organization.

Dr. Middleton has served as dean of the College of Education since 2006. She is a graduate of Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan. Dr. Middleton holds a master’s degree from the University of Tennessee and a doctorate in rehabilitation administration from the College of Education at Auburn University in Alabama.

Erin Berry-McCrea, a lecturer in the department of communications at Towson University in Maryland, has been selected to receive the 2018 Early Career Educator of Color Leadership Award from the National Council of Teachers of English.

Berry-McCrea is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, where she majored in mass communication. She holds a master’s degree in organization communication from Bowie State University in Maryland and is a doctoral candidate in the language, literacy, and culture program at the University of Maryland Baltimore County.