Dr. Tisha Brown-Gaines, assistant professor of computer science, won the Nashville Emerging Leader’s Education Award at the 13th annual NELA ceremony on August 1.
The Nashville Emerging Leader’s Award is an initiative of the Nashville Chamber, which recognizes Middle Tennessee’s young professionals (YP) under the age of 40 for significant accomplishments in their chosen career field, as well as their commitment and contribution to their respective communities.
On the list of winners, the Nashville Post writes, “Brown-Gaines is a former McNair, Mississippi Space Grant Consortium, LSMAMP-Bridge to the Doctorate, DOE Mickey Leland Energy and Southern Regional Education Broad Fellow who currently serves as the faculty representative for the National Center for Women and Information Technology. In this role, she engages with students, faculty and administrators at Belmont to help promote and increase participation of girls and women in computing. This includes providing mentorship to students who are interested in computing and contributing to the NCWIT goals of improving diversity and inclusion in computing. In addition to partnering with Belmont, Gaines actively engages within the community to provide resources that will assist in changing the local conditions that create barriers to attracting and graduating women in post-secondary computing.”
Brown-Gaines said she feels blessed and honored to be recognized by the Nashville Chamber for the 2019 Nashville Emerging Leadership Award in Education. “I am committed to providing opportunities for young women and men interested in STEM fields, specifically computer science here at Belmont and within the greater Nashville community,” she said.
The annual NELA ceremony recognized five finalists in 14 industry classifications from a pool of more than 900 nominees. Each NELAs candidate is evaluated in three areas: professional achievement, demonstrated leadership and community impact. Together, the finalists are involved in supporting and leading more than 400 Middle TN nonprofits.
YP Nashville is presented by Lipscomb University’s Pfeffer Graduate School of Business. The awards are sponsored by Atiba, Bradley, Lightning 100 and Nashville Post.
