The O’Bryant Center celebrates 2026 Black Heritage Award winners
The awards are a way to celebrate the “unsung heroes” among university staff and administration.
Shaneese Byrd remembers Northeastern University as the “backdrop” to many of her childhood memories growing up in Boston, whether it was attending programs at the Huntington Avenue YMCA near campus or watching the funeral of community activist and Huskies basketball star Reggie Lewis.
But completing coursework at Northeastern through a summer program really helped shape Byrd’s path. The classes she took exposed her to the world of higher education and taught her the skills she needed to succeed in college, she said.
“That experience was particularly formative,” Byrd told Northeastern Global News. “It made higher education feel tangible and attainable.”
Byrd went on to obtain bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
Now a counselor/psychotherapist with University Health and Counseling Services at Northeastern, Byrd said her journey came “truly full circle” when she was one of three university staff and administrators honored with the Black Heritage Awards.
These awards, given to several honorees each year, recognize “unsung heroes” whose work uplifts students and the university, said John D. O’Bryant African American Institute Director Richard O’Bryant.
“To now be recognized by a community that played a role in shaping my early experiences is both deeply meaningful and humbling,” Byrd said.
Byrd was celebrated alongside fellow award winners Zaryah Guyton, associate director for application evaluation and enrollment projects, and Beyazmin Jiménez, director of belonging and engagement for the Planning, Real Estate and Facilities division, at the annual Black Heritage Award luncheon, held at the John D. O’Bryant African American Institute on March 23.
The awards were initiated nearly 20 years ago when O’Bryant became the director of the O’Bryant Institute. The idea, he told NGN, was to highlight the impact of Black students, faculty and staff members.
The award winners are selected from among those the institute has worked with over the years, said Keith Motley, assistant director of student outreach and communications for the Institute. The institute also takes recommendations from students, faculty and staff.
Over the years, the team’s connections in nearly every department at the university have helped identify those “critical to Northeastern’s day-to-day success,” O’Bryant said.
“At the John D. O’Bryant African American Institute, we have always believed that relationships are the heartbeat of our university,” he added. “This is one of the more meaningful things we do.”
Guyton, whose admissions work focuses on outreach in Maryland and parts of Canada, told NGN she was grateful for the recognition, but saw it as a call to action to “continue doing meaningful work” for the communities she serves.
“There is still so much to be done, and this only deepens my commitment,” she said. “The O’Bryant Institute has a beautiful tradition of acknowledging those who serve behind the scenes, and I’m humbled to be among them.”
For Jiménez, the award acknowledges her accomplishments from the three years she’s been a member of the Planning, Real Estate and Facilities team. During this time, she has begun a mentoring program to enable bonding between employees at different levels and has fostered spaces where people feel “seen, valued and connected,” she told NGN.
“This recognition feels especially meaningful because it reflects a collective effort,” she said. “It is rooted in the relationships, partnerships, and shared commitments that continue to shape a more just and inclusive environment that has helped me grow both as a professional and as a committed leader.”
