Yiran Li is the recipient of this year’s Edith Lesley Wolfard Award. A group of College of Liberal Arts & Sciences faculty and administrators selected Li, a math major with minors in education and international education, for the award.
Named for the institution’s founder, the award is given to an academically outstanding senior who exhibits strong leadership skills, a commitment to lifelong learning and professional excellence, and who shows promise of exemplifying the Lesley ideal in the future.
Her emergence as a leader and commitment to service is evidenced by her many campus roles, including community advisor, academic peer advisor, admissions ambassador and president of the International Student Association, a group she reinstated.
Li said she feels strongly that leaders need to cultivate inclusive communities and has backed up that belief by serving the broader community as a mentor for Big Sister of Boston and a volunteer at Open Table, a food pantry in Maynard, Massachusetts.
The recent graduate plans to pursue a doctorate in math education at Columbia University in the fall.