Monica Brashears is a senior graduating with a double major in English and Africana Studies. During her time at UT, she has received the Robert A. Burke Creative Writing Award, the Eleanor Burke Award for Nonfiction, the Michael Dennis Poetry Award, and the Margaret Artley Woodruff Award. She also received the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship were she participated in study abroad traveling to Senegal.

Monica was also listed as summa cum laude, on the Dean’s List in the College of Arts and Sciences. Upon graduation, she will attend Syracuse University in fall 2019 to pursue a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (fiction).