In recognition of the many contributions of the late Edward P. “Buddy” Bullard, III. Awarded annually to a Woodrow Wilson School alumnus who works professionally with communities of color and who serves as a mentor to current students of color at the Woodrow Wilson School

Background

Edward P. Bullard received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Howard University in 1988. He entered the Woodrow Wilson School to pursue a MPA in 1995 on a Karl E. Prickett Scholarship and specialized in domestic policy. In the years in between, he co-founded the Renaissance Real Estate Institute, which provides technical assistance and community and economic development information to urban residents in New York, Washington, DC, and Maryland. He served as Director of the Blackham School Community Lighthouse in Bridgeport, CT where he designed and operated after-school and summer programs for students in grades K-12. He later worked as a planning coordinator for the NEU East End Community Board, Inc., where he helped to develop and promote community empowerment. He also volunteered as a youth mentor with the Bridgeport Board of Education and participated in Project Blueprint, a United Way training course that trains leaders to serve on local non-profit boards of directors. While at Princeton, he took a middle year out to intern on Capitol Hill in the Office of Senator Christopher J. Dodd (CT). 

In addition to working to recruit students of color to the Woo, Edward served as the catalyst for the first Students and Alumni of Color Symposium. As Assistant Dean John Templeton explains, Edward "planted the seed for an annual meeting of alumni and students of color, envisioning a weekend where alumni could share their expertise about their careers and begin to mentor students toward making successful career choices."

Edward passed away on January 5, 1998, while on medical leave from Princeton, but his legacy at the Woo remains. The Symposium has become a school tradition, bringing alumni and students together in a vibrant and inspiring way.

Award Criteria

The award is to be given to a Woodrow Wilson School alumnus (either graduate or undergraduate alum, regardless of ethnic background) who has served as an exemplary mentor to WWS students and/or students in his/her community and is thus, an inspiration to students of color at the Woodrow Wilson School.

This Year's Winner

This year's award winner is Maribel Hernández Rivera. Maribel is District Director for Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She previously served as Executive Director of Legal Initiatives for the NYC Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs where she was responsible for creating and promoting innovative access to justice programs for immigrants including ActionNYC and NYCitizenship. Maribel has also served as Supervising Attorney at Immigrant Justice Corps where she directly supervised Department of Justice Accredited Representatives as they helped low-income New Yorkers apply for immigration benefits. Before that, Maribel was a Fried Frank/ MALDEF fellow. As a fellow, she represented individuals in immigration detention, submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Court in support of the U.S. government in the Arizona v. United States case, and participated in a group advocating for the representation of people in immigration detention. Maribel received her J.D. from New York University School of Law, her Masters in Public Affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, and her A.B. from Harvard University. Upon law school graduation, Maribel served as law clerk to the Honorable Mary M. Schroeder in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.