Suzette Meza from El Paso, Texas, Wins Georgia Woman of the Year Scholarship

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Brenau University Prof. Ken Frank and Suzette Meza

GAINESVILLE, GA (10/17/2012)(readMedia)-- Although she is not a native Georgian, Brenau University sophomore Suzette Meza from El Paso, Texas, won a prestigious Georgia Woman of the Year scholarship from the Georgia Commission on Women.

Meza, a conflict resolution and legal studies major, was one of five undergraduates from colleges and universities around the state to receive the $1,000 unrestricted grants at a ceremony that honored Georgia Chief Justice Carol W. Hunstein as Georgia Woman of the Year – the 16th Georgian accorded the honor since the program began in 1996. Others include former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, former Atlanbta Mayor Shirley Franklin and SPANX founder Sara Blakely.

The Georgia Woman of the Year Committee, Inc., in cooperation with the Georgia Commission on Women, has established a scholarship awards program for women attending Georgia colleges and universities. Recipients must have competed at least their freshman year, have at least a 2.5 grade point average, exhibit leadership capabilities and have participated in community campus activities.

Meza received the award along with Stephanie Gabbard from Macon State University, Thuy Nguyen from Georgia Tech and two students from Valdosta State University – Deborah Stone and Quintella Bohannon.

"Suzette has a solid undergraduate grade point average of 3.15, a broad range of interests and a record of numerous contributions to campus organizations and activities," said Dr. Ken Frank, the chair of Brenau's humanities department who nominated Meza for the award.

For example, Meza is a key member of the Brenau intercollegiate mock mediation team and this year has helped the team capture to first-place finishes in regional tournaments and has also won individual honors for her work. She will be a member of the Brenau team in November when the university, for the first time, hosts the national intercollegiate mock mediation tournament on the Gainesville campus. Ironically, Chief Justice Hunstein will be the keynote presenter at the pre-tournament conference and training sessions at Brenau.

"This award came as a complete surprise to me," said Meza. "It was a huge honor when I found it was the Georgia Woman of the Year scholarship. And, I find it slightly fated that I should receive this award when it is in honor of Chief Justice Hunstein, a woman to be respected and looked up to no matter where your aspirations lie, but even more so when you hope to achieve something as great as she has."

Like Hunstein did, Meza plans to go to law school after she finishes her undergraduate studies. Outside the classroom, she is focused on the mock mediation team, which she says leaves her little time this fall for other extracurricular activities. Although she confesses she has recently taken up something of a hobby – crocheting.

"It's been going quite well," she said. "I started it this summer with my mom and we used to work on it together. Now I enjoy it with my roommate, and she teaches me new things since she has more experience."

Meza is the daughter of Maria Elsa and Jaime Eduardo Meza of El Paso. She has an older sister, Beatrice, who is a pharmacy technician, and a younger brother, Miguel, who is an 8th grader.

She said she was drawn half way across the United States to Brenau because it "offered everything I was looking for in a university in terms of location, academics, and pricing." Although the university is coeducational in graduate and undergraduate programs on campuses and online, it also includes the 134-year-old residential Women's College on the main campus in Gainesville.

"I thought a women's college would help me be better prepared for a profession that is predominantly male," she said. "The conflict resolution and legal studies major here is perfect for me because it opens so many doors and offers new possibilities that I fell other undergraduate law degrees don't offer. Overall, Brenau was the one place that seemed – and is – meant for me."

Meza claims that as a student she can be a bit of a perfectionist. And she pays attention to detail, like being on time and, well, like paying attention in class.

What probably helps her as a mediator, she said, is that she "more of a listener than a talker, and I genuinely enjoy helping people when they have a problem – although I can't always fix it."

"Once I get close to people, I open up and become a lot more outgoing than I am with those I've just met," she said. "Overall, I'd say I'm the silent worker type, someone you can always lean on and trust to catch you if you stumble."

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ABOUT BRENAU – Founded in 1878, Brenau University currently enrolls about 2,800 students in graduate and undergraduate programs on campuses and online. With a curriculum that blends professional preparation informed by the liberal arts, Brenau degree tracks range from Associate of Arts, which includes a special "early college" program for exceptional high school-age students, to terminal degrees, including a Master of Fine Arts in Interior design and a Doctor of Nursing Practice. The main campus of the Georgia-based liberal arts institution, which includes the Brenau Women's College, is in Gainesville with other campuses in Augusta, Kings Bay and in two metro Atlanta locations, Norcross and Fairburn. Brenau's 2013 ranking as one of the top 15-best higher education values in the Southeast by U.S. News & World Report marks the university's eighth consecutive year in that position for the magazine's America's Best Colleges guidebook. In 2012 Brenau online programs scored high in national rankings by U.S. News & World Report, including a No. 9 in the nation "Honor Roll" listing for graduate degree tracks in Brenau's College of Education. Brenau University also has been cited as one of the best universities in the Southeast by The Princeton Review. The Chronicle of Higher Education accorded Brenau "honor roll" status as one of the top 10 best colleges and universities to work in its 2011-12 survey rankings.