Public health professionals, artists, prestigious fellowship recipients, and policy-changers make up the nearly 3,400 Warriors who will be celebrated at Wayne State University’s May 2023 commencement ceremonies.
Cancer survivors, student-workers, parents, first-generation students — Wayne State graduates are everywhere, from across the world, all with their own unique challenges and stories. The delicate dance between academics, work and a social life is practiced on what often feels like a tightrope walk to an academic degree.
A journey that’s goes by both too quickly and too slowly will soon come to an end for the graduating Class of 2023. On May 3-5, the years of hard work, dedication and learning will mark the triumphant end to their studies, but also the beginning of the next exciting chapter for this group of Warriors.
Of all the exceptional graduates of the May Class of 2023, a handful are spotlighted below. Another six class-elected commencement speakers are highlighted on YouTube. Here are their stories.
Ibrahim Ahmad
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Last summer, Ibrahim Ahmad went to Capitol Hill as an intern for U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa. This summer, he’ll return as a State Department Fellow and recipient of the prestigious Rangel Fellowship. The $100,000 scholarship is one of the most exclusive, paying for two years of graduate study and providing two internships, one on Capitol Hill and another at a consulate or embassy. At the end of the program, successful fellows are granted a position as a diplomat with the Foreign Service.
Ahmad has earned a degree in public affairs and minor in peace and conflict studies from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. He plans to pursue a master’s in international affairs or public policy, and says his lifelong interest in world events was fostered by his father, an immigrant from Lebanon.
Austin Ash
School of Social Work
While Austin Ash earned a master’s in social work from Wayne State University’s School of Social Work, he also became an expert in creating community wherever he went. Ash, who uses he/they pronouns, plans to use that invaluable skill in their future as a clinical social worker.
Ally and Mady Brownrigg
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Ally and Mady Brownrigg have done almost everything together their entire lives — and they’ve added graduating from college to that list. The twin sisters have earned degrees from Wayne State University’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences with a major in public health and a minor in global studies. The pair said that their time at Wayne State and the experience of going through college together has strengthened their bond as friends and sisters.
Read the Brownriggs' full story.
Taima Ezzeddine
Irvin D. Reid Honors College
Most students can’t spot their parents in the stands at graduation, but Taima Ezzeddine won’t have to look for her dad in the crowd. He’ll be on stage next to her.
Ahmad Ezzeddine is Wayne State’s vice president for academic student affairs and global engagement. This will put him front and center when Taima, his oldest child, graduates from the Irvin D. Reid Honors College with a degree in public health after only three years of study.
Nathan Farnsworth
College of Education
A first-generation college student, Nathan Farnsworth said he was not familiar with many colleges and universities. However, he knew he needed to attend a school that would prepare him for a career in dentistry. Interested in how the body moves, Farnsworth majored in kinesiology. Farnsworth faced a few challenges on the road to commencement — an unprecedented global pandemic and a stage-four cancer diagnosis. Despite these life-changing forks in the road, Farnsworth — who aspires to become a pediatric dentist, orthodontist or oral surgeon — will begin a dental program this fall. He said his experiences at the Wayne State College of Education prepared him for the next leg of his journey.
Stephanie Gilkey
College of Education
For more than 40 years, Stephanie Gilkey has been a physician assistant (PA), working in many settings, including Henry Ford Health System, Harper Hospital, and the Wayne State University Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. At WSU Applebaum, she helped develop the PA program and spent more than 20 years serving in various roles, including program director and academic coordinator.
Led by a desire to become a better educator and to understand and conduct educational research, Gilkey is a graduate of the doctoral program in educational evaluation and research in the College of Education.
Kennedy Hunter Watson
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Kennedy Hunter Watson is graduating with a bachelor of science in neuroscience from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. She is an accomplished scholar who has dedicated herself to the study of neuroscience and chemistry, excelled in her academic pursuits, and contributed immensely to the scientific community.
Lela Jimenez
College of Education
Two-time Wayne State alumna Lela Jiminez was first attracted to Wayne State for three reasons — diversity, community and belonging.
After earning a bachelor’s in political science and peace and conflict studies, Jimenez wasn’t ready to leave the university. She had planned to attend law school but, at 20 years old, wasn’t sure if that was the best next step.
Jimenez decided to learn more about the online master’s in learning design and technology offered by Wayne State’s College of Education. She met with Assistant Professor Alisa Hutchinson, who became her advisor. The rest is history.
Aaron Keathley
Irvin D. Reid Honors College
Aaron Keathley made university history this year when he became Wayne State’s first-ever Marshall Scholarship recipient, receiving a $100,000 award for graduate studies in the United Kingdom after he graduates from the Irvin D. Reid Honors College. He is the only student in Michigan awarded in the 2023 class. In mid-September, Keathley will be off to the London School of Economics and Political Science, where he plans to earn a master’s in equality studies. Then, he will attend the University of Nottingham to work on a master’s in behavioral economics.
The Marshall Scholarship is one of the most highly competitive in the world, awarding $100,000 to up to 50 students. This year, of 951 candidates, only 40 were selected. Keathley credits support at Wayne State from Board of Governors Chair Mark Gaffney and Professor Kevin Deegan-Krause for helping him apply for the prestigious award.
Tomiko Maling
School of Social Work
Tomiko Maling has worked as a professional photographer, for nonprofits, in government at the state and federal levels, and served on the Ferndale City Council. In February 2020, with her son, a Wayne State University graduate, grown and married, she attended a goal-setting workshop in Seattle to plan the second part of her life.
Maling had considered pursuing a master’s for about a decade but wasn’t sure in what field. That was until she attended a Wayne State open house and talked with School of Social Work advisor Lawrence Robinson. She decided to pursue the holistic defense track, which employs an interdisciplinary team that considers both the individual and community needs when working with a person charged with a criminal offense.
Sam Matthews
Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
Sam Matthews is a self-proclaimed weirdo — and proud of it. Told for years that her desire to work with dead people was strange, crazy, impossible and not the path for her, Matthews is a graduate of the pathologists’ assistant program and has every intention of doing just that. Passionate about forensics, Matthews will work as a travelling forensics pathologists’ assistant shortly after graduation from the Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.
Sabrina Mayhew
College of Nursing
Sabrina Mayhew, a College of Nursing Ph.D. graduate, would never have considered that a breast cancer diagnosis would change her life for the better, but if you asked her, she would say it did. In addition to the defense of her dissertation on “The Lived Experience of African American Breast Cancer Survivor Advocates,” Mayhew has worked as an advocate both locally and nationally. She goes to Washington, D.C., annually to lobby with senators and members of Congress to improve treatment for breast cancer, especially for minority women.
LaTricia Mitchell
School of Social Work
LaTricia Mitchell is graduating with a dual title master of social work and infant mental health from the School of Social Work. While at Wayne State, Mitchell was involved with the National Association of Social Workers, the National Association of Black Social Workers, the Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health and WSU’s Rad(ical) Social Workers. Mitchell first interned with Big Brothers Big Sisters, working closely with volunteers and families. Her second placement was a position with Michigan Medicine. She served as a direct clinician in psychiatry, seeing minoritized children and caregivers with complex trauma
Klea Noskey
Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
For decades, women in Albania have been viewed as submissive and subordinate to men, who were considered conservative and traditional. Those who dare contradict conventional norms are often ostracized and viewed as troublesome. Klea Noskey knows this all too well.
Having grown up in a tiny village in northeast Albania where people still hold strong to family traditions and cultural beliefs, Noskey has witnessed the consequences of – as she puts it – thinking outside of the box.
Hani Qaqish
College of Engineering
Through internships and extracurriculars, Hani Qaqish jump-started his career while still in school. The College of Engineering graduate, who earned a degree in biomedical engineering with minors in computer science and business administration, accepted a job offer from Siemens Digital Industries Software as a technical program manager nearly three months ahead of graduation.
Vanessa Reynolds
College of Education
Undergraduate admissions counselor Vanessa Reynolds ‘03, ‘07, ‘23 moved to the United States with her family when she was 11. She said the transition was difficult, and learning to speak English was not the only adjustment Reynolds and her family had to make. She knew she wanted to go to college, but she was not sure what university she should choose. During her senior year at Western International High School in Detroit, Juan Jose Martinez — a former counselor from Wayne State’s Center for Latino/a and Latin American Studies and now principal at Cesar Chavez Academy — paid a visit and made an impact on Reynolds, who enrolled at Wayne State in the College of Education, where she excelled and continues to serve her community and fellow students. True to her personal and academic experiences, Reynolds’ dissertation focused on the experiences of Latina leaders in higher education, and she hopes to inspire more Latinas to earn doctorates.
Adrian Russell
Mike Ilitch School of Business
A first-generation college student out of Detroit’s Chandler Park Academy High School, Adrian Russell faced many obstacles to get where he is today.
After struggling during his first year at another university, bouncing back with a 3.7 GPA, and then taking a year off to save money while working at Target, Russell transferred to Wayne State and enrolled in the Mike Ilitch School of Business’ MPrep Scholars program, which provides underrepresented students with academic support, mentorship and industry exposure. Russell majored in marketing with a minor in political science.
Through MPrep, Russell landed an internship at Ford, where after successfully helping his unit land two new clients, he was offered a full-time job following graduation.
Samantha Tirakian
Mike Ilitch School of Business
Samantha Tirakian is graduating with a master of business administration from the Mike Ilitch School of Business. Tirakian also earned a bachelor of science in accounting from Wayne State University in May 2022, graduating summa cum laude with university honors and a 3.95 GPA. As a member of the Accelerated Graduate Enrollment (AGRADE) program, Tirakian simultaneously took undergraduate and graduate courses, which shortened the time to her M.B.A. Outside the classroom, Tirakian held two internships and was extensively involved with the Wayne State community. She was a member of the WSU B-Start program, a peer mentor for WSU’s Learning Communities program and an informal accounting peer tutor. Following an internship at KPMG in Detroit as an audit intern, Tirakian accepted a full-time position as an audit associate for fall 2023. Tirakian plans to become a CPA with specialization in auditing and financial reporting fraud investigation.
James Wairagu
Irvin D. Reid Honors College
James Wairagu is an academic superstar who’s made a habit of actively chasing down opportunity wherever he might find it.
The son of Kenyan immigrants, Wairagu‘s journey has led him from Africa to New York to Georgia to, finally, Wayne State's Irvin D. Reid Honors College. Along the way, he’s chased dreams that have taken him from 20,000 feet above Earth right down into the heart of Detroit, from taking college AP courses during high school to being on the verge of joining the M.B.A. program at the Mike Ilitch School of Business If all goes according to plan, those dreams will eventually lead him to Wayne State’s School of Medicine.
And lest anyone forget, Wairagu, who recently graduated with his bachelor’s in neuroscience, is only 20 years old.
Jacqueline Williams
School of Medicine
Jacqueline Williams is graduating with a master of science in genetic counseling from the School of Medicine. Williams started her career at the DMC virology/ serology laboratory as a medical technologist. After finding her specialty interest in genetics, she furthered her career by transitioning to work for many years in the cytogenetic laboratories at DMC and then at Beaumont Hospital. In her spare time, Williams gained advocacy and crisis training to support others through the organizations Empower Work and IMALIVE.
Yousra Zouani
College of Engineering
Yousra Zouani is graduating with a bachelor of science in biomedical engineering with honors from the College of Engineering. She has also earned university honors and biomedical honors. Zouani is passionate about developing new technologies to improve human health, safety and comfort. As a participant of the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program, she completed research at Wayne State’s School of Medicine, focusing on the relationship between mosquitos and water mites. Zouani also collaborated with researchers at Michigan Medicine and investigated how physicians treat obesity. She spent time volunteering at Beaumont Hospital, assisting patients and visiting families.