{"id":101374,"date":"2026-04-22T08:25:03","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T12:25:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ced.ncsu.edu\/news\/?p=101374"},"modified":"2026-04-22T08:25:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T12:25:19","slug":"doctoral-student-euna-victoria-chavis-wins-unc-school-of-social-work-distinguished-recent-alumni-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ced.ncsu.edu\/news\/2026\/04\/22\/doctoral-student-euna-victoria-chavis-wins-unc-school-of-social-work-distinguished-recent-alumni-award\/","title":{"rendered":"Doctoral Student Euna Victoria Chavis Wins UNC School of Social Work Distinguished Recent Alumni Award"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n

Euna Victoria Chavis, a graduate student in the NC State College of Education earning a Ph.D. in the Educational Leadership, Policy, and Human Development higher education opportunity, equity, and justice (HEOEJ)<\/a> concentration, has always been drawn to spaces where transformation happens. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a background in social work, she realized that her experience aligned with spaces of higher education, which are often pivotal environments where students navigate their identities and opportunities while facing a variety of challenges. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHigher education allows me to combine direct support, advocacy and systems-level change in a way that feels both purposeful and impactful,\u201d Chavis said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, as she works towards earning a doctoral degree in HEOEJ, her efforts in the field have been recognized with the 2026 UNC School of Social Work Distinguished Recent Alumni Award. The award recognizes recent UNC graduates for achievements that have brought credit to the school, the social work profession or society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chavis earned both her bachelor\u2019s degree in psychology and master\u2019s degree in social work from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cReceiving the Distinguished Alumni Award from the UNC School of Social Work is both humbling and deeply affirming,\u201d she said. \u201cIt affirms that the values instilled in me\u2014advocacy, service, and a student-centered approach\u2014continue to guide my work and make a meaningful impact.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chavis, who currently works as the AdviseNC program director at Duke Community Affairs, chose to come to the College of Education because she wanted to deepen her understanding of the structures that shape students\u2019 college experiences and explore the way she could contribute to the improvement of universities\u2019 policies, practices and cultures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The College of Education, she said, was the right place for this experience because they offered interdisciplinary training and research opportunities as well as the \u201ccritical lens needed to examine these issues more deeply and to prepare me to contribute to meaningful change in the field.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During her time in the program so far, Chavis said she has learned the importance of grounding educational practices in both theory and evidence. Her coursework and research experiences, she said, have also already offered practical implications that she uses day-to-day in her current job. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy coursework and research have reinforced the value of being intentional and reflective in decision-making\u2014asking not just what we do, but why and for whom. I also carry forward a deeper understanding of intersectionality and the ways in which systems can either support or hinder student success,\u201d she said. \u201cThese lessons shape how I approach leadership, program development and student engagement in my current work.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false,"raw":"\n\n\n\n\n

Euna Victoria Chavis, a graduate student in the NC State College of Education earning a Ph.D. in the Educational Leadership, Policy, and Human Development higher education opportunity, equity, and justice (HEOEJ)<\/a> concentration, has always been drawn to spaces where transformation happens. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a background in social work, she realized that her experience aligned with spaces of higher education, which are often pivotal environments where students navigate their identities and opportunities while facing a variety of challenges. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHigher education allows me to combine direct support, advocacy and systems-level change in a way that feels both purposeful and impactful,\u201d Chavis said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, as she works towards earning a doctoral degree in HEOEJ, her efforts in the field have been recognized with the 2026 UNC School of Social Work Distinguished Recent Alumni Award. The award recognizes recent UNC graduates for achievements that have brought credit to the school, the social work profession or society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chavis earned both her bachelor\u2019s degree in psychology and master\u2019s degree in social work from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cReceiving the Distinguished Alumni Award from the UNC School of Social Work is both humbling and deeply affirming,\u201d she said. \u201cIt affirms that the values instilled in me\u2014advocacy, service, and a student-centered approach\u2014continue to guide my work and make a meaningful impact.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chavis, who currently works as the AdviseNC program director at Duke Community Affairs, chose to come to the College of Education because she wanted to deepen her understanding of the structures that shape students\u2019 college experiences and explore the way she could contribute to the improvement of universities\u2019 policies, practices and cultures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The College of Education, she said, was the right place for this experience because they offered interdisciplinary training and research opportunities as well as the \u201ccritical lens needed to examine these issues more deeply and to prepare me to contribute to meaningful change in the field.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During her time in the program so far, Chavis said she has learned the importance of grounding educational practices in both theory and evidence. Her coursework and research experiences, she said, have also already offered practical implications that she uses day-to-day in her current job. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy coursework and research have reinforced the value of being intentional and reflective in decision-making\u2014asking not just what we do, but why and for whom. I also carry forward a deeper understanding of intersectionality and the ways in which systems can either support or hinder student success,\u201d she said. \u201cThese lessons shape how I approach leadership, program development and student engagement in my current work.\u201d<\/p>\n"},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Euna Victoria Chavis, a graduate student in the NC State College of Education earning a Ph.D. in the Educational Leadership, Policy, and Human Development higher education opportunity, equity, and justice concentration, has always been drawn to spaces where transformation happens. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54576,"featured_media":101341,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"source":"","ncst_custom_author":"","ncst_show_custom_author":false,"ncst_dynamicHeaderBlockName":"ncst\/default-post-header","ncst_dynamicHeaderData":"{\"showAuthor\":true,\"showDate\":true,\"showFeaturedVideo\":false,\"displayCategoryID\":185}","ncst_content_audit_freq":"","ncst_content_audit_date":"","ncst_content_audit_display":false,"ncst_backToTopFlag":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[202,185,205],"tags":[441,186,322,314,2466,562,217,930,2456],"_ncst_magazine_issue":[],"class_list":["post-101374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-honors-and-awards","category-news","category-our-people","tag-doctoral-students","tag-elphd","tag-graduate-students","tag-higher-education","tag-higher-education-opportunity-equity-and-justice","tag-honors-and-awards","tag-news","tag-student-awards","tag-student-awards-2025-26"],"displayCategory":{"term_id":185,"name":"News","slug":"news","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":185,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":2318,"filter":"raw"},"acf":{"ncst_posts_meta_modified_date":null},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ced.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ced.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ced.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ced.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54576"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ced.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101374"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ced.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101374\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":101375,"href":"https:\/\/ced.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101374\/revisions\/101375"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ced.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ced.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ced.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ced.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101374"},{"taxonomy":"_ncst_magazine_issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ced.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_ncst_magazine_issue?post=101374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}