BALTIMORE, Md., May 29, 2023 -- The Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF), in partnership with Hennessy, has announced the fifth cohort of Hennessy Fellows, a landmark initiative designed to empower the next generation of Black leaders across the country that spans various industries.
Morgan State women's basketball graduate forward Taylor Addison has been named as one of 10 selected to the Cohort V of the Hennessy Fellows Program.
Since its inception, over 30 students have completed the innovative program which provides HBCU students with financial assistance, training and professional development and curated corporate development experiences. Sixteen (16) students have come from Morgan State.
"I'm grateful for the opportunity to be a part of the Hennessy Fellowship Cohort 5. I look forward to continuing my hard work and making a positive impact on my community," Addison said. "I am also excited to receive mentorship from top advisors. I believe this opportunity will help me grow in my career, as well as my life."
The Hennessy Fellows Program awards high-achieving graduate students, representing a variety of undergraduate majors from liberal arts to sciences and engineering, from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Predominantly Black Institutions (PB|s) with curated corporate development experiences, as well as financial assistance.
Along with an all-expenses-paid trip to New York City and Charlotte, North Carolina for an immersive boot camp, each fellow will receive executive coaching, online training forums, networking opportunities to enhance the exchange of ideas and provide direct exposure to interrelated corporate, social, and economic systems.
The selected fellows will also receive a scholarship per academic year, an annual stipend for other educational-related expenses and an opportunity to receive an additional grant for a community-related project.
For more than 35 years, Thurgood Marshall College Fund has awarded more than $300 million in assistance to students attending HBCUs. TMCF has delivered 98 percent of its awards exclusively to HBCUs, and the Hennessy Fellows program is a continuation of an ongoing investment in Black students and the Black community at-large.
Addison, who graduated from Morgan State in 2022 with a degree in Applied Liberal Studies with a concentration in Business and Communications, recently completed her first year as an MBA student in Morgan's Earl Graves School of Business and Management.
The former women's basketball team captain led the Lady Bears in rebounding this season with 7.3 boards per game. A native of Columbia, Md., Addison started 26 of 28 games and ranked third on the team in scoring (6.3), steals (41), blocks (6) and was fifth in assists (30).
The Lady Bears completed the 2022-23 season 17-12, 10-4 in the MEAC, which was good for second place and the No. 2 seed in the MEAC Tournament. Morgan State advanced to the Postseason Women's National Invitational Tournament (WNIT), where it faced host Wake Forest in the opening round. It was the program's second all-time postseason appearance on the Division I level and the first since the 2010-11 campaign, when that team also reached the Postseason WNIT.
Morgan State, which had a program-best 16-game home winning streak, went 11-2 at home this season to set the school record for most home victories in a season.