ACC Announces 2022 UNITE Award Recipients

GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Atlantic Coast Conference has announced the recipients of the second annual 2022 ACC UNITE Award, which was created to honor individuals affiliated with the league who have made an impact in the areas of racial and social justice. The UNITE Award is an initiative of the ACC's Committee for Racial and Social Justice (CORE - Champions of Racial Equity) and was developed and approved by its 15 member institutions.

Boston College's recipients of the 2022 ACC UNITE Award are M. Quentin Williams and Dr. Constance Smith Hendricks.

Williams is an attorney, author, educator, prolific international speaker, former FBI Agent, and former federal prosecutor. A 1987 graduate of Boston College with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, Williams has held executive positions in the NFL and the NBA. He is the founder and CEO of the nonprofit Dedication to Community (D2C), which delivers diversity and inclusion, skills-building workshops, and ongoing forums to improve community understanding and relationships. Through D2C, Williams facilitates ongoing training with police departments and community leaders throughout the nation and globe to encourage racial equity and social justice through education, partnership, engagement, and advocacy.

Incorporating the Jesuit values of service to others and care for individuals and communities, his work with D2C is grounded in healing, reconciliation, and unity. Through D2C, Williams seeks to foster community uplift, and improve police interaction with marginalized communities, thereby reducing trauma, avoidable incarceration, and lawsuits while also saving lives. In addition to working directly with law enforcement, Williams works to nurture the next generation of leaders through work with schools and universities by facilitating courageous conversations on topics ranging from appreciating cultural and racial differences to rebuilding communities, law enforcement interaction, and getting home safely.

As a former Boston College student-athlete in football and track & field, Williams understands the power of sports as a unifier and vehicle for change. As a result, Williams' work also extends to facilitating training with sports leagues, teams, and athletics departments to assist with personal advocacy, leadership development, and relationship building. Most recently, D2C partnered with the Miami HEAT and the City of Miami Police Department to develop a community-building program to help bridge the gap between Black and Brown city residents and local law enforcement. This partnership earned the Miami HEAT the NBA's "Values of the Game Award". Williams also remains connected to his alma mater, Boston College, engaging in diversity and community uplift training with student-athletes, coaches, and athletics administrators.

Hendricks, RN, FAAN, was the first African American to earn a Ph.D. in Clinical Nursing Research from Boston College in 1992. A native of Selma, Alabama, Dr. Hendricks is a member of the First Baptist Church of Selma, where her family and church community played a pivotal role in the civil rights demonstrations that became a catalyst for the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Dr. Hendricks is internationally known as an exemplary nurse, scholar, leader, and educator with work that spans the southeast United States and globally in Liberia, Ghana, Ethiopia, and Malawi. Dr. Hendricks has been a pioneer, trailblazer, and educator throughout her career. She was the first African American tenured with the rank of Full Professor at Auburn University. As a visiting Presidential Scholar, Dr. Hendricks developed the first Doctorate of Nursing Practice program at Kentucky State University. She implemented the first Ph.D. program in Louisiana at Southern University in Baton Rouge. Also, she developed the Health Science Division at Concordia College of Alabama, serving as the Founding Dean of Nursing and Allied Health.

As a 2019 Alabama Nursing Hall of Fame inductee, Dr. Hendricks was known for her ability to secure millions of dollars through grant funding to increase and foster health-promoting behaviors in diverse populations, particularly those in rural and underrepresented communities. As an academic administrator and Dean, Dr. Hendricks fostered diversity among faculty and students resulting in meaningful and lasting change during her tenures at each institution. Dr. Hendricks' commitment to enhancing diversity, equity, and inclusion resulted in her being awarded the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) Workforce Diversity in Nursing Award.

Dr. Hendricks continues to positively impact her community through her innovative programming that fosters health promotion and her uncanny ability to collaborate and develop partnerships that unite individuals from diverse backgrounds to focus on a common goal. As a leader in her community and throughout the southeast region, Dr. Hendricks remains active within her various organizations, including Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc, Order of Eastern Stars, National Council of Negro Women, National Black Nurses Association, Sigma Theta Tau International, Chi Eta Phi Sorority, Inc, amongst others.

The ACC UNITE Award is presented annually to individuals who:

Best exemplify ACC CORE's mission to promote and encourage racial equity and social justice through education, partnerships, engagement and advocacy
Have helped create meaningful, lasting change by improving systems, organizational structures, policies, practices and attitudes
Have been a pioneer and/or helped pave the way for minorities either at the institution or in the community

Each school selects its two recipients based on the above criteria and can choose to celebrate their selections at campus events throughout the academic year.

"We are proud to honor the ACC UNITE Award winners who have made significant contributions in the areas of racial and social justice," said ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips, Ph.D. "These 30 individuals are true pioneers who inspire us with their contributions to a more diverse and equal society. As a conference we will remain steadfast in our pursuit of racial and social justice, while assisting our student-athletes and institutions with programs that can affect change."

ACC SiriusXM will devote a portion of their morning show to the 2022 UNITE Award recipients with hosts Chris Spatola and Dalen Cuff Thursday morning at 10 a.m.

2022 UNITE Award Recipients
Boston College: M. Quentin Williams & Dr. Constance Smith Hendricks
Clemson: Wayne Jenkins & Barbara Kennedy-Dixon (posthumously)
Duke: Michael Howard & Gracie Johnson
Florida State: Leonard Hamilton & Morgan M. Jones
Georgia Tech: Lucius Sanford & Lynn Houston-Moore
Louisville: Jim Freeman & Valerie (Owens) Combs
Miami: Corey Jones & Lauryn Harris
North Carolina: Charles Scott & Kathy Crawford
NC State: Dr. Marcus Martin & Charece Willams Gee
Notre Dame: Cason Wilburn & Niele Ivey
Pitt: Dr. Bettina Love & Herb Douglas
Syracuse: Dedrick Etan Thomas & Emily Nugent
Virginia: Marques Hagans & Hailey Barnett
Virginia Tech: André Davis & Reyna Gilbert-Lowry
Wake Forest: Jim Caldwell & Charlene Curtis (posthumously)

ACC Announces 2022 UNITE Award Recipients

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