Profile pictures of Lynnette Hersh and Emma Tolliver
Recent graduate Lynnette Hersh (left) is the recipient of the 2023 Herbert A. Young Award for outstanding senior. Senior Emma Tolliver (right) will receive the 2023 Leon H. Mayhew Award when she graduates in June.

Top College Awards Go to Mental Health, Justice Advocates

An aspiring psychologist who aims to improve mental health care for people on the autism spectrum and a political science/English double major who plans to be a legal advocate for marginalized communities are the recipients of the College of Letters and Science’s top prizes for graduating seniors at UC Davis.

Lynnette Hersh, who graduated in December with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, was selected to receive the Herbert A. Young Award for outstanding senior based on academic accomplishments and extracurricular activities.

Emma Tolliver, who will graduate in June with degrees in English and political science, will receive the Leon H. Mayhew Memorial Award. The award is presented by the College each year to an undergraduate majoring in music, art or literature for their academic achievement and service to the university.

Focus on autism research and advocacy

Hersh maintained a 4.0 grade point average and earned a series of academic honors while participating in a remarkable array of activities beyond the classroom.

A UC Regents Scholar and a University Honors Program student, Hersh was selected last year for a national Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and more recently received a Dean Keith Simonton Prize for Creativity in Undergraduate Research and a Department of Psychology Citation for Outstanding Performance.

Among her extracurricular activities, she has been a research assistant for more than two years in two psychology labs — one focused on the mechanisms of attention and working memory and the other on the neurocognitive development of children with neurodevelopmental disabilities.

For her honors thesis, she analyzed the opinions of more than 500 members of the autism community on issues including the neurodiversity movement, models of disability and autism intervention goal preferences. Specifically, she explored whether community member views are shaped by closeness to nonspeaking autistic people and autistic people with intellectual disability. Hersh is the co-author of two research articles being developed for publication in scholarly journals.

In addition to her laboratory work, she volunteered with a variety of crisis hotlines, tutored community college students, co-led a social skills group for youth on the autism spectrum, and served as an advocate for transfer students and people with skin conditions. 

She will start a graduate program in clinical psychology in the fall, the next step in fulfilling her childhood dream to provide mental health care for people on the autism spectrum and other underserved groups, such as LGBTQ clients and immigrants. 

“As a clinical psychologist, I’m hoping to not only provide direct services to neurodivergent people in a neurodiversity-aligned manner, but also be an advocate for the community. Whether this means supporting legislation that can help neurodivergent people in schools or the workforce, teaching classes about neurodivergence, or continuing community-based autism research, it is an essential part of being in the mental health field,”  Hersh said.

She said she was honored to receive the Young Award, which comes with a $2,000 stipend. “Encouraging researchers, especially those investigating underserved groups, to continue their endeavors is important," Hersh said. 

Taking an interdisciplinary approach

“While growing up, I wanted to be a writer and always enjoyed creating,” Tolliver said. “A high school American government class sparked my interest in using my skills in writing, argument construction and critical thinking as a tool for political empowerment.”

Arriving at UC Davis, Tolliver found that the political science–public service track was a great match for her writing skills and her interests. The English and political science majors support and complement one other, she said, as have professors who helped her connect the two.

"Being in the social sciences and the arts and humanities, I’ve had to adopt a very interdisciplinary lens in understanding the world,” said Tolliver, who grew up in California's Central Valley. “Through my education, I've been able to draw on the ways I can use my skills and knowledge from both majors in order to advocate and fight for the changes I would like to see in the world.”

Eventually, Tolliver would like to attend law school and become a legal advocate for victims of human trafficking. But she has immediate plans as well. In late May, she was named a fellow at the UCLA Center for Race and Justice Policy for the summer. She will work across the UC system on issues and policies around sexual assault and violence.

Three students stand side by side in front of a table with a blue sign that reads "Davis Journal of Legal Studies"
Pictured, from left: Aaron Guerra, director of internal affairs for Davis Journal of Legal Studies; Hunter Keaster, co-editor-in-chief of the journal; and Emma Tolliver.

As a political science–public service student, Tolliver interned with the California State Office of the Governor’s constituent services and external affairs offices. During that time, she led a promotional campaign for a clemency program aimed at those convicted of crimes related to sexual orientation that were repealed long ago.

“It was exciting to do work that actually created a change — that’s been very meaningful,” Tolliver said. “I’m looking forward to learning more about how to advocate for communities that are marginalized,” she said.

Her political science research has been published and presented at conferences, her short stories and poems have been published, and her artwork and poetry have been in several exhibitions. In addition, she founded and edits the Davis Journal of Legal Studies to publish research by undergraduate students. She also worked on the Article 26 Backpack: Universal Tool for Academic Mobility that provides a way for refugee young people to safely store and share their educational background and professional history. The Article 26 Backpack grew out of the UC Davis Human Rights Studies program. She also worked for the UC National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement surveying undergraduate civic engagement across the university system.

For her political science thesis, Tolliver analyzed data from 175 countries to see how the COVID-19 pandemic undercut democracy. Her English thesis is an examination of the title character from William Shakespeare’s Othello as a Black and Indigenous figure resisting colonialism.

Tolliver’s list of achievements is long, including being the first undergraduate to receive a fellowship from the UC National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement. Among her other honors are a National Community Service Ambassador Award from the United Nations Association and the University of Chicago Young Memory Fellowship. She is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society, the university honors program and the political science and English honors programs.

She has also served on the UC Office for Systemwide Accountability, Fairness and Equity, the UC Davis Chancellor’s Undergraduate Advisory Board, the UC Immigration Legal Clinic, and the Associated Students of UC Davis Gender and Sexuality Commission.

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