Page 2 - Florida Sentinel 12-4-20

Feature
FSU Selects Tampan For ‘Grads Made Good’ Award
BY MONIQUE STAMPS Sentinel Feature Writer
Every day she runs, pounding the pavement and looking to get one more mile under her belt. For Tampa native, Inez ‘Liz’ York Cohen, achievement is not a vague goal. With passion and focus, she seeks to do something or inspire some- one every day. Last week, Mrs. Cohen received an incredible confirmation of her efforts by being awarded the Grads Made Good award from her alma mater, Florida State University (FSU).
Mrs. Cohen was born in Tampa. Her parents, Ellis and Dorothy York were highly esteemed and regarded members of the community. Her father was the first Black to host a tele- vision show in Tampa, ‘The Job Hotline’. Her mother was a revered educator, community activist and au- thor of several books.
Mrs. York Cohen
graduated from Hillsbor- ough High School in 1972, and from FSU in two and a half years in the class of 1974 with a degree in Eng- lish Education. She contin-
INEZ ‘LIZ’ YORK COHEN
and humanitarian achieve- ment and service to their profession.
Last week’s honor is considered highly competi- tive. The Grads Made Good award was devel- oped in 1974 to recognize alumni who have made sig- nificant contributions na- tionally or internationally.
Former Florida Gover- nor Rubin Askew was one of its first recipients. Each year the university recognizes and awards only three alumni for this award. Ms. York Cohen was nominated by the president of the FSU National Alumni Associa- tion.
“I am truly humbled and honored to be the recipient of both awards, the 2018 Distinguished Alumni Award and the 2021 Grads Made Good Award. I am sure my parents are smiling from heaven.”
It is obvious why Mrs. Cohen was chosen for this award. She and her hus- band, George Cohen, M.D., have fully endowed four scholarships at two dif- ferent universities, FSU and Howard University. In addi- tion to her many profes- sional and philanthropic activities, she believes that her work with her sorority’s, Alpha Kappa Alpha Educa- tional Advancement Foun- dation and OGRun initiative
made her a candidate for the award.
Her pet project, OGRun, is a walking/run- ning group she created this year that now has over 300 members from across the country and a few Ameri- cans now living in Dubai, Ghana, and England. The group operates on multiple platforms including Face- book and the Nike Run app.
Mrs. York states, “in January 2020, I founded a free walking/running group OG RUN to help close the health disparity gap for women of color, who have higher rates for obesity, di- abetes, strokes, hyperten- sion, heart disease and depression. OG is urban slang for old girls. The ac- tivities include daily encour- agement, monthly challenges, virtual races and prizes. This keeps the members motivated as they continue their fitness journey.”
Mrs. Cohen lives in Tampa with her husband. They have four children and four grandchildren. Mrs. Cohen is active with the alumni association at FSU, is a member of Allen Tem- ple AME Church, Tampa Chapter of The Links, Inc. and a lifetime member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Soror- ity, Incorporated, and Jack and Jill of America.
ued her education at Chap- man University, where she received her graduate de- gree. Additionally, she has studied School Ethics and Leadership at Oxford Uni- versity in Oxford, England.
During her 40-year ca- reer, she was a school prin- cipal then transitioned to become a school adminis- trator. When she retired in 2010, she continued to stay actively involved in educa- tion by becoming a National Turnabout School Consult- ant. In this role, she as- sisted and consulted with
failing schools by providing technical support and help- ing to close the disparity in achievement gap. She also worked to help close the school to prison pipeline.
This most recent award from FSU is not her first, in 2018, she received the Dis- tinguished Alumni award. Established in 1985, the College of Education Distinguished Alumni Awards provides an avenue of honoring gradu- ates of the college who have distinguished themselves through scholarly, creative,
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