Texas A&M-University held a leadership luncheon on April 26th where several students and faculty were presented awards for their leadership roles on campus. The event was highlighted by the presentation of the 2022 Scott Bruner Award for Visionary Student Leadership.
The Bruner Award provides recognition for those hardworking individuals who strive to make A&M-Texarkana a better place for students to live, learn, and grow. Based solely on leadership and service to the University, this distinguished award is given to a student who exhibits ethical, creative leadership and promotes a positive campus climate while remaining in good academic standing.
Students can be nominated for this award by faculty, staff, or other students and must meet 4 criteria:
• Service: The extent of the student’s involvement on campus and the extent of the student’s involvement in each group.
• Leadership: The student’s ability to provide creative and ethical leadership.
• Diversity: The student’s commitment to diversity issues and community building.
• Impact: the student’s contribution to the campus community and how the student made the campus a better place.
Students nominated for this year’s Bruner award were Brooklyn Bailey, Tobi Gullatt, Malik Tucker, and Tommy Tye.
The 2022 Scott Bruner Award for Visionary Student Leadership was presented to Tobi Gullatt, for the leadership roles he assumes in multiple organizations on campus. Tobi is a senior kinesiology major from Texarkana, Texas who attended Liberty-Eylau High School. He is a student assistant for the Eagles soccer team, is active with the Student Government Association, and is a student worker in the Patterson Student Center. He is also active in weekly Diversity Group meetings held by the university’s Counseling Services office. One of the most notable examples of Tobi’s leadership came as he worked to create TAMUT Esports on campus. He is the founder and President of the group and has spent the past three years working with university officials and outside organizations to make the Esports program an active organization for A&M-Texarkana students.
“I was thrilled to see that Tobi was the recipient of this year’s Scott Bruner Award for Visionary Student Leadership,” said A&M-Texarkana President Dr. Emily Cutrer. “Tobi is an active leader of our university community and dedicates a great deal of his time to helping make TAMUT a better place for all students.”
Tobi says that his motivation to be a leader comes from his parents. “I’ve always been around leaders and been inspired by them to do my best,” he said. “I want to do that for the people who come after me. I want to try to inspire them to do more and to go farther than I have.”
Other awards presented during the ceremony included:
•Resident Assistant of the Year (‘20-‘21) – Neysa Dominguez
•Resident Assistant of the Year (‘21-‘22) – Jovanna Dominguez
•The Shellby Halliburton First Year Experience Coach of the Year – Jovanna Dominguez
•The Daniel Gonzalez Student Programmer of the Year – Tommy Tye
•Organizational Service Award – Omega Delta Chi sorority
•Organization Advisor of the Year – Dr. Dana Leighton (Psychology Club)
•Organization of the Year – Phi Lambda Chi fraternity
