Efird and Holloman Receive Impact Award
Two students associated with the Center for the Study of the American South are among 16 UNC-Chapel Hill graduate students and recent graduate alumni selected to receive the Graduate School’s 2021 Impact Awards and Horizon Awards.
Diamond Holloman, a doctoral candidate in ecology, is completing a Southern Futures project, working with 
community members still recovering from hurricane damage in Robeson County. A Royster Fellow, Holloman leads an interdisciplinary research project, “Voices of Resilience and Recovery”. She examines the impact of climate change in Robeson County communities through the lens of environmental humanities. Learn more about her work in the community in this Southern Futures podcast episode with Lumber River Keeper Jefferson Currie.
Caroline Efird, a doctoral student in health behavior, is a Southern Oral History Program (SOHP) field scholar. 
Her work collecting oral histories is an invaluable asset to the community. “Most of the narrators I had the pleasure of interviewing last summer were in western North Carolina, in Mitchell County and Yancey County,” says Efird. “As they described their family histories and healthcare experiences, I noticed some common themes.” Efird describes her research in this SOHP article.
Impact Awards, made possible through the generous support of the Graduate Education Advancement Board, recognize discoveries of direct benefit to North Carolina. Horizon Awards recognize research likely to make a significant longer-term contribution to the state. Students from 27 different academic programs were nominated this year.
More on the Impact Awards