By Sasha Steinberg | Mississippi State University
Four Mississippi State students are receiving awards for outstanding achievement from the university’s Association of Retired Faculty.
Founded in 1986, the ARF presents outstanding student achievement awards that serve as tributes or memorials to colleagues and association members who made major contributions to student development over their careers at the 139-year-old land-grant institution.
All MSU seniors, this year’s student winners were recognized formally at the organization’s recent end-of-the-year banquet. Receiving $500 and a special awards plaque, honorees include:
—Kennedy J. Brown, an industrial engineering major from Columbus, receiving the Harry Charles F. Simrall Award for Engineering Excellence. Brown served as vice president of communications for Delta Gamma sorority. As systems safety engineering manager for MSU’s EcoCAR 3 team, she earned second place for her systems safety presentation in the 2016 national EcoCAR competition. Under her leadership as president, the local chapter of the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers won a Gold Award for outstanding chapter activity.
—Meredith A. Hilliard, an English and foreign language/Spanish double-major from Hernando, receiving the Peyton Ward Williams Jr. Distinguished Writing Award. A Judy and Bobby Shackouls Honors College student, Hilliard is an MSU John and Renée Grisham Presidential Scholar and Society of Scholars inductee. Her research has been recognized with a first place award in the Arts and Humanities Division of the Undergraduate Research Symposium sponsored by the honors college. She also is a fourth-year member of the State Singers, MSU’s premier choral ensemble.
—Anne Larrah Johnson, a biochemistry/pre-dental major from Dyersburg, Tennessee, receiving the Charles E. Lindley Leadership in Agriculture Award. Along with memberships in Pi Beta Phi sorority, Alpha Epsilon Delta Pre-Professional Health Club, Pre-Dental Society, Physicians on the Rise and the Student Association’s Bulldog Bash Committee, Johnson has assisted with alumni and recruiting events as an MSU College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Ambassador. Outside of the university, she 
tutors children at Ms. Smith’s Educational Services in Starkville.
—Leah S. Ballard Welborn, an architecture major from Mathiston, receiving the William L. Giles Award for Excellence in Architecture. An MSU communication/pre-law bachelor’s graduate, Welborn currently serves as co-editor-in-chief of BARNworks, the School of Architecture’s nationally distributed publication showcasing top student work. Her other leadership roles include president of Tau Sigma Delta architecture honor society; executive board superintendent of Alpha Rho Chi architecture fraternity; and freedom by design historian for the American Institute of Architecture Students campus chapter.
MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.