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Nine Inducted into Bouchet Honor Society

April 28, 2025

By Katya Hrichak

2025 Cornell Bouchet Society inductees
Cornell’s 2025 Bouchet Society inductees. Back row (left to right): Don Long, Andrea Robinson, Salma Rebhi and her son, Zhuang Han, and Aspen Omapang. Front row (left to right): Jamila Walida Simon, Marguerite Pacheco, Libby Indermaur, and Belen Sotomayor. Simon Wheeler for Cornell University

Nine Cornell doctoral candidates have been inducted into the Cornell chapter of the Edward Alexander Bouchet Graduate Honor Society.

The Bouchet Society recognizes outstanding scholarly achievement and promotes diversity and excellence in doctoral education and the professoriate. Its network of scholars exemplifies academic and personal excellence, character, service, and advocacy.

Cornell’s Bouchet scholars, along with scholars from institutions around the country, were inducted at the annual Yale Bouchet Conference on Graduate Education hosted by the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in New Haven, Connecticut on April 4 and 5. The theme of this year’s conference was “Environmental Justice: The Intersection of Climate Change and Social Equity.” During the two-day program eight Cornell scholars gave poster and oral research presentations.

Scholars and their invited mentors and loved ones were also honored at the Cornell Bouchet Scholar Recognition and Celebration on April 24 at Cornell. Remarks on the meaning of the Bouchet Society were provided by Avery August, deputy provost and professor of immunology.

“This year’s Bouchet Scholars have demonstrated excellence both within and outside of their programs, serving their communities through a commitment to the Bouchet Society principles of character, leadership, advocacy, scholarship, and service,” said Sara Xayarath Hernández, associate dean for inclusion and student and faculty engagement. “We are so proud of our students for all they have done and continue to do to improve the higher education landscape for all.”

Cornell’s 2025 Bouchet Scholars:

“Dr. Bouchet is one of the many Black Americans who laid the foundation for which I stand and draw inspiration,” said Robinson. “It has been and will always be my duty to follow in the footsteps of my ancestors while continuing to carve a path forward for those coming after me.”

Walida Simon similarly has committed to continue promoting belonging and inclusion in her work and service, reaching out to scholars who will benefit from representation and support.

In addition to inspiring scholars to keep working to make positive changes in academia, being inducted into the Bouchet Society provides them with an expanded network. Han looks forward to collaborating within this network on projects going forward.

For Omapang, joining the Bouchet Society is a recognition of her path to where she is now.

“Becoming a Bouchet Scholar feels like a capstone on my long journey of becoming a community leader and academic,” she said.

Yale and Howard Universities established the Bouchet Society in 2005 to recognize the life and academic contributions of Edward Alexander Bouchet, the first African American to receive a doctorate from a U.S. university. He earned his degree in physics from Yale in 1876.

Outside of the society’s founding universities, Cornell was among the earliest universities to establish a chapter of the Bouchet Society, inducting its first members in 2006.