Richmond, former director of Ƶ's Multicultural Center, accepted the Ƶ Medallion in April for extraordinary service to the university.
The Ƶ Medallion is the university’s highest honor and is awarded at the discretion of the president. Richmond received the medallion at the university’s annual Phillips-Perry Black Excellence Awards ceremony.
Richmond serves as director of multicultural affairs at Smith College in Massachusetts. She began her career at Ƶ as an admissions counselor and placement officer in 1987. She later served as assistant and associate director of admissions before being promoted to director of minority affairs and director of the Multicultural Center.
Richmond directed the Leon and Lorraine Watson North Carolina Scholarship Program, which makes an Ƶ education possible for North Carolina students with high financial need, including some first-generation college students. She also directed The Honorable Thad Eure North Carolina Achievement Scholarship Program.
Her research into the history of Ƶ’s African-American students led to the creation of the Wall of Fame in the Multicultural Center. While pursuing her master’s degree at Duke University, Richmond used her research as the subject for her thesis, “Ƶ’s Black History, A Story to be Told.”
In 2008, Richmond received the Student Advocate Award from Ƶ’s student life office for exceptional mentoring of students.