Baylor Black Alumni Alliance Gathers to Reconnect and Honor Distinguished Graduates
The third annual reunion of the Baylor Black Alumni Alliance in Fall 2024 centered around nurturing connection, celebrating distinguished alumni and investing in the next generation of students.
The weekend kicked off with the Distinguished Achievement Awards Ceremony, and the following day continued at the Baylor Black Alumni Alliance tailgate and the Baylor football game.
The Awards event included the presentation of the highest awards given by the Baylor Black Alumni Alliance: the Rev. Robert L. Gilbert Distinguished Baylor Black Alumni Award and the Mrs. Barbara Walker Distinguished Black Alumni Award. The Mrs. Barbara Walker Distinguished Black Alumni Award was introduced for the first time this year, and both awards are named in honor of the first Black students to graduate from Baylor. These awards recognize Baylor Black Alumni who, through service, have earned the respect and approval of peers and colleagues in their communities, professions and vocations.
The Awards event benefited the Dr. Vivienne Malone-Mayes Scholarship Endowment. The ceremony recognized three student recipients of the Dr. Vivienne Malone-Mayes Scholarship, the student recipient of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship and 103 recipients of the Trailblazers Scholarships.
Mrs. Barbara Walker Distinguished Black Alumna Award
Gabrielle “Gabe” Madison,
B.B.A. ’00
Gabrielle “Gabe” Madison is the president of Bonton Farms, a South Dallas farm turned community resource that is disrupting inequitable systems to change lives. In her role, Madison provides strategic oversight and direction to the organization’s rapidly expanding operations, development, human resources, community partnerships and programming. Before her current role at Bonton Farms, Madison served as the organization’s board chair.
She brings more than two decades of corporate leadership experience to Bonton Farms, having most previously served as director of community relations for international software development giant Thomson Reuters for more than seven years, and as the brand’s HR manager for nearly four years prior to that. Throughout her career, Madison has demonstrated expertise in social responsibility and inclusion, revenue growth, talent acquisition, human resources, training and development.
Madison graduated from Baylor with a B.B.A. in marketing and international business in 2000. In 2024, she was awarded Baylor’s Pro Texana Medal of Service, which recognizes outstanding alumni whose contributions in furthering the mission of Baylor have made an immeasurable impact to the public or nonprofit sector.
Tiffanie Blackmon-Jones,
B.A. ’05
Tiffanie Blackmon-Jones is the chief communications officer for the DeSoto Independent School District. In 2017, Blackmon-Jones was named a member of the National School Public Relations Association’s Top 35 under 35 as she assumed the role of DeSoto ISD’s director of communications before being promoted to the system’s executive director and her current position. Seen as a thought leader and professional expert, Blackmon-Jones often extends her expertise through state and national industry presentations and training. Blackmon-Jones carries with her a spirit of service in the way that she performs her roles in both the school district and her surrounding community.
As a student at Baylor, Blackmon-Jones played for the University’s first NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship team and received her bachelor’s degree from the department of journalism, public relations and new media. She was named the department’s 2024 Alumna of the Year.
Rev. Robert L. Gilbert Distinguished Baylor Black Alumnus Award
Ben Baker,
B.B.A. ’88
Since 1989, Ben Baker has been dedicated to serving residential real estate clients with attentive, high-touch service. His unwavering dedication is evidenced by the fact that most of Baker’s annual business comes from repeat clients or their referrals to others. Joining the esteemed KW Dallas Preston Road office in Plano, Texas, in 2001, Baker has been a respected member of its leadership council for 18 years. Baker’s journey in real estate began with a Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in real estate. Before his successful real estate career, Baker showcased his athletic prowess as a flanker for the Baylor Bears football team from 1983 to 1988.
Remaining deeply engaged with his alma mater, Baker actively participates in Baylor activities as a past director of the Baylor “B” Association and currently serves as a committee volunteer for the Baylor Black Alumni Alliance. He’s involved with the Juneteenth celebrations in Plano and the KW Cares charities that support KW associates going through tragedies.
Chris Scott,
B.A. ’04
Chris Scott is the founder, head of documentaries and award-winning director at Strategery Films.
Scott previously worked in the political realm, serving on the campaigns of the late Senator Harry Reid and President Barack Obama.
In 2015, Scott founded his own creative consulting agency, Strategery. Now the company produces non-scripted film projects. Scott’s projects have won the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities Documentary of the Year, the Hollywood Film Critics Association Award for Documentary of the Year, the Festival Grand Prize at the Arizona International Film Festival, and most recently Best Feature Documentary at the 2022 Cannes International Film Festival.
In 2022, he was awarded Baylor’s Medal of Service for Contributions to the Professions, which recognizes outstanding alumni’s dedication to advancing their chosen fields and making a significant impact in our world.
Scott earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and great texts of the Western tradition. He currently serves as a member of the Baylor Alumni Board of Advocates and has endowed a need-based scholarship in the Honors College in honor of his grandmother, Costell Scott, and great-aunt, Eldoris Houston.
Rev. Kenyatta Gilbert,
B.A. ’96
Rev. Kenyatta R. Gilbert, Ph.D., is a nationally recognized scholar on African American preaching. He currently serves as dean and professor of homiletics at Howard University School of Divinity.
Gilbert earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from Baylor in 1996, before he pursued further education at Princeton Theological Seminary, where he earned both his Master of Divinity and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in practical theology, specializing in homiletics. Gilbert also is an ordained Baptist minister and a prolific writer.
In 2011, Gilbert founded The Preaching Project, a ministry dedicated to empowering ministers for effective service within African American churches and communities. Furthermore, he serves as the Black Congregations Resource Center’s founding director at Howard University.
In recognition of his outstanding contributions to academia and social justice, Dr. Gilbert was honored with induction into the Martin Luther King Jr. International Collegium of Scholars at Morehouse College in 2022. Most recently, he was chosen as a recipient of the Diamond Award for Excellence in Leadership from the Not Alone Foundation, Inc.