Mason, Armstrong to be honored as Lyman T. Johnson Award Recipients

Oct 23, 2009

University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy fourth-year student Deon Mason and staff member Rodney Armstrong will be honored as recipients of the Lyman T. Johnson Torch of Excellence and Torch Bearer awards being presented Oct. 30 at the Lexington Downtown Hotel and Conference Center.

Each UK unit selects among its African-American alumni, faculty, staff and students recipients to be honored during the annual awards inspired by the legacy of Lyman T. Johnson. Johnson, the grandson of slaves, is best known as the plaintiff whose successful legal challenge opened the University of Kentucky to African-American students in 1949. He died in Louisville in 1997.

Mason is a 2010 doctor of pharmacy candidate completing his final year at the UK College of Pharmacy's Clinical Education Center in Louisville. A native of Paducah, he is the son of Ronnie Mason Sr. and the late Julia Mason.

He completed his pre-pharmacy coursework at UK before being accepted into the pharmacy program. He is a member of Kappa Psi Pharmaceutical Fraternity and has served as president and vice president of the Student National Pharmaceutical Association. He is also a member of Phi Lambda Sigma, national pharmacy leadership society, and has served on the Student Advisory Council for the College. While attending UK he has received the William C. Parker Scholarship, the NAACP Clyde F. Boyles Scholarship and the Walgreens Diversity Scholarship. He has worked with the YMCA Black Achiever's Forum to promote the profession of pharmacy to high school students and has been a frequent volunteer at the Kentucky Blood Center, the Ronald McDonald House, and Faith Pharmacy.

Mason currently is working as a pharmacy intern at Walgreens and plans to complete a residency program and then continue with Walgreens.

Armstrong has worked at the UK College of Pharmacy since 2003 where he is an account clerk in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences. He first came to work at UK in August 1993 and has worked at the Markey Cancer Center and in the Internal Medicine chairman's office where he was nominated for Employee of the Year and was honored for having perfect attendance five years in a row.

Armstrong is a native of Kentucky but also has lived in Washington D.C., where he graduated high school. He has two brothers, Jeffrey of Atlanta, and John from Hyattsville, Md.

According to his nominators, "Rodney has consistently proven to be a valuable employee and demonstrates hard work and dedication to the goals of not only the College but the University. He often goes beyond what is required to perform his job effectively, as evidenced by the numerous classes he takes on campus to learn ways to improve his job performance."

In addition, he is a member of the Main Street Baptist Church and has been a frequent volunteer and supporter of the United Way, American Red Cross and UK's Circle of Love.