College of Design 2024 Lyman T. Johnson award recipients

The University of Kentucky Alumni Association, in partnership with the UK Office for Community Relations honored two members of the UK College of Design community during the 33rd annual Lyman T. Johnson Awards Luncheon. 

Each year, UK’s academic colleges select an alum to receive the Lyman T. Johnson Torch of Excellence award for outstanding achievements and a student to receive the Torch Bearer award for academic excellence and impact on others. 

The 2024 UK College of Design’s Lyman T. Johnson Torch of Excellence honoree is Shayla Lawson. Lawson graduated in 2007 with a degree in architecture, but since then, has focused on poetry. They were awarded the position of writer in residence and director of creative writing at Amherst University in 2018. In 2020, they became an assistant professor of English at Amherst with an emphasis on creative writing and literature courses that focus on contemporary poetry, nonfiction and hybrid literary forms. Their writing focuses primarily on the world of music journalism, black culture, and pop critique, all of which are featured prominently in their essay collection “THIS IS MAJOR: Notes on Diana Ross, Dark Girls, and Being Dope” and three collections of poems. 

The 2024 UK College of Design’s Lyman T. Johnson Torch Bearer honoree is Jamal Gordon. Gordon is a senior planning to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in architecture and an undergraduate certificate in historic preservation in May 2025. After that, he would like to pursue a master's degree in architecture, becoming a registered architect. After his educational career, Gordon intends to work in marginalized communities to design and provide spaces for all.  

The annual awards honor Lyman T. Johnson, a pioneer who challenged the status quo in his landmark court case which opened the University of Kentucky to Black students in 1949. He dedicated his life to fighting against segregation and racial inequalities in Kentucky. The Lyman T. Johnson Alumni Constituency Group established an endowed scholarship in 2008 in his name to provide financial assistance to students of color in their pursuit of higher education.   

Learn more about this year’s luncheon and see other college’s awardees here.