The AAWC honored the following alumnae and faculty for their accomplishments during an annual awards ceremony held May 17.
Faculty Award:
David True, Ph.D.
Established in 1998, the Faculty Award is presented to a faculty member who has given a minimum of 10 years of dedicated service to Wilson College.
David True, Ph.D., former associate professor of religion at Wilson College, taught from 2003 to 2022 and received the Donald F. Bletz Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2016. He also served as director of the Orr Forum, an endowed lecture series dedicated to further reflection on the role of religion in the world.
Though absent from the award ceremony because he was attending his daughter’s graduation, True expressed gratitude in a letter, reflecting on the transformative power of shared learning at Wilson. He wrote, “The shared practice of thinking changed my life, and I am so grateful to have been there alongside you to witness it change your lives as well.”
Currently, True lives in North Carolina, where he is a visiting scholar of philosophy and theology at Pfeiffer University and interim pastor at Poplar Tent Presbyterian Church. He also serves as co-editor of Political Theology, a peer-reviewed international journal committed to furthering the study of the theological and the political.
Outstanding Young Alumni Award:
Taylor Huntley ’17
This award honors an alumna/us who has attended Wilson within the last 20 years and who has brought honor to her/himself and the College through her/his intellectual and professional growth and contributions to her/his communities through professional and/or volunteer activities.
Taylor Huntley ’17 earned dual degrees from Wilson, with a Bachelor of Science in Equine Facilitated Therapeutics and a Bachelor of Arts in Business Management.
She is now the Executive Director of Albany Therapeutic Riding Center in Guilderland, NY, where she has led a remarkable transformation over six years—from a struggling program with one horse and six riders to a thriving, mortgage-free center with seven horses, 60 participants, and 80 volunteers. The Center offers customized adaptive horseback riding to children and adults living with disabilities, chronic illnesses, or going through social, emotional, or learning struggles.
Huntley, also a Special Olympics certified coach, splits her time between teaching and managing the facility. In a note of thanks for her award, she credited Wilson’s dual-degree program and supportive community for empowering her to rebuild the center from the ground up.
Tift Award:
Jennifer Nickle Banzhof ’94
The Tift Award is presented to an alumna/us who has demonstrated exemplary efforts to promote the continuing
growth of Wilson College.
Jennifer Nickle Banzhof ’94, a business and economics major, is co-founder and principal of BHA Consulting LLC, where she has provided benefits consulting for multi-employer health and welfare and pension plans since 1994.
Banzhof currently serves as Chair of the Wilson College Board of Trustees, which she joined in 2013, and previously served as a director and treasurer of the AAWC. She also contributes to the College as a member of the Pines and Maple Society, and proudly supports her daughter Delaney, a 2022 Wilson graduate, continuing the Wilson legacy.
She is a dedicated equestrian, volunteering at Midway Saddle Club and caring for her horse, Dante. She also served as a volunteer with the Georgia Army National Guard Family Readiness Group, earning the Georgia Commendation Medal.
In her thank you speech, Banzhof reflected on the transformative experience she had at Wilson, saying, “I didn’t know I needed Wilson when I came in 1990. I knew that I could ride my horse and get a good education, and that it felt like home. What I got was amazing.”
Distinguished Alumna/us Award:
Carol L. Stoehr Ashbridge ’70
Presented to an alumna/us who has had a distinguished professional/volunteer career and who has shown continuing service, interest, and support in the growth and quality of Wilson College for a minimum of five years.
Carol Stoehr Ashbridge ’70 graduated from Wilson with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Classics with a minor in German. She earned a master’s degree in library and information sciences from the University of Pittsburgh in 1971. She spent 38 years as a library media specialist in elementary and secondary schools, retiring in 2009. During this time, she organized five European student trips and served for 15 years as president of the Teachers’ Association.
Ashbridge’s passion for genealogy led her to establish her own business, Connections Abound, to help families trace their roots. Her work earned her recognition from the Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity for research on the fraternity’s founder Charles I. Brown, and an Excellence in Publishing award from the North Carolina Genealogical Society for her contributions to a family history project relevant to the state.
She has served Wilson College in many capacities, including as an Aunt Sarah, class secretary and correspondent since 1990, and as an alumni association board secretary from 2017 to 2024. As she reflected on time at Wilson, she gave credit to her education, lifelong friendships, and the enduring impact of her professors. She added, “I came to Wilson as a very young 17-year-old and went out a changed and transformed person who felt that they could take on the world. I will never be able to repay that to Wilson.”
