Jonesboro, AR — (JonesboroRightNow.com) — April 24, 2025 — Arkansas State University presented the R.E. Lee Wilson Award, the highest award that can be presented to a graduating student, on Thursday.
Amber Yates of Salem, AR, who graduated in December with a communications studies degree, was the recipient. She is one of more than 130 students to receive the award since its creation.
“I’m just filled with gratitude,” Yates said. “I knew Natan Gomez last year, who won it, and he was such a role model for me, was such an inspiration. To know that I have been awarded the same thing and will be continuing the legacy of the Wilson Award is really exciting and I’m just really honored and I carry it with pride.”
Yates has been on the Chancellor’s and Deans’ Lists and won the Excellence in Student Diversity Award in 2022 and the Black Student Association (BSA) Advocate and BSA Humanitarian awards in 2024.
She served as president of the National Pan-Hellenic Council and held several leadership roles with the Omicron Tau chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority. Yates was a volunteer with the A-State Food Pantry, a Pack Leader, a Communication Center coach, and served on the Student Government Association. She also served as an ambassador for the Multicultural Center.
Yates will be continuing her studies in A-State’s higher education graduate program, which teaches students the workings of collegiate systems, faculty culture, and prepares students for serving in administration.
She added that she plans to continue pursuing her passion of diversity, equity and belonging.
“It’s just really what I’m here on this Earth to do. I can’t stop talking about it,” Yates said. “Whatever that holds for the future, names might change but the fight is still the same, so I’m excited to see what that looks like in higher education and in other realms well.”
Jonathan Schaufler, a senior nursing student from Salem, AR, said he was proud of Yates for winning. The two are childhood best friends.
“I cannot imagine it being anybody else honestly,” Schaufler said. “Amber is a ray of sunshine and a person you want to be around, and she is everything that the Wilson embodies. I cannot imagine this night or this award without her.”
Yates and Schaufler were also two of six students chosen to be Distinguished Service Award (DSA) winners, all of whom were honored at the ceremony.
Other DSA honorees included Elizabeth England of Piedmont, MO; Rachel Mooneyham of Jonesboro; Sabrina Pierce of Maumelle; and Braden M. Ross of Nashville, AR.
To be eligible for the Wilson Award, students must graduate during the current academic year at the summer, fall or spring commencement ceremonies.
R.E. Lee Wilson, a Mississippi County planter and businessman, served on the institution’s Board of Trustees from 1917 until his death in 1933. The annual Wilson Award presentation began in 1934, more than eight decades ago.
Previous Wilson Award recipients formed a Wilson Fellows Chapter of the A-State Alumni Association that has funded a scholarship program. Winners receive a post-graduate scholarship from the chapter to be used for additional education after graduation from A-State.