Commencement Profile: Diamond Briggs

Diamond Briggs has earned a bachelor of science degree in applied sociology, attaining a 3.92 GPA while participating in the Muriel A. Howard Honors Program, the Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program, and the National Student Exchange Program.

Briggs will receive the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence during the 2:00 p.m. baccalaureate ceremony at Buffalo State’s 143rd Commencement, Saturday, May 16, in the Sports Arena.

An engaging student leader and peer role model, Briggs applies herself in everything she does and has a voracious appetite for learning, gaining new experiences, developing leadership skills, and working for social justice.

In the classroom, she is a conscientious, hardworking, and dedicated student. While at Buffalo State, she earned membership in the Chi Alpha Epsilon Honor Society and was awarded the Educational Opportunity Program’s award for highest GPA in 2012. In 2014, she received two awards from the Residence Life Office—the Excellence for Student Success Award and the Academic Excellence Award for the highest GPA among resident assistants—as well as the Sociology Department’s Neumann-Clement Award for the highest GPA among sociology majors (2014).

Briggs became involved with research during her freshman year as part of the Student Investigators Learning Community, which allowed her to integrate and synthesize major themes across disciplines. She was selected to present her paper “Civil Disobedience” at the annual Learning Community Symposium.

Outside the classroom, Briggs is a model college citizen. She has participated in numerous extracurricular activities and functions, including Saturday of Service and the Westside Ministry soup kitchen, and as a math tutor at Buffalo Public School 45. She is also a resident assistant and served as an officer of the African American Student Organization, a member of the Fashion Student Association, and an EOP first-year mentor and tutor. In 2013, she served as the student host of the EOP Honors Convocation.

Briggs received the Director's Award and Alumni Association Award at the 2015 EOP Honors Convocation.