NAASC Scholarships and Awards

The eighties were the years of visibility and image building for the newly incorporated association. Alumnae were awarded the first NAASC Hall of Fame Awards and Merit Awards. The College recognized several long-term active Alumnae Association members by naming lounges in the Donald and Isabel Stewart Living Learning Center. The NAASC established the Donald M. Stewart Endowed Scholarship, which provided annual scholarships to students. The National Emergency Student Loan Fund was established with contributions from the Baltimore, Columbia, Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles Chapters.

To date, more than thirty students have borrowed from the Emergency Loan Fund. The Glee Club had been touring nationally for decades, the newly organized Spelman College Jazz Ensemble (1987) began touring nationally with the assistance of the anchor chapters - the Detroit and the Northern New Jersey Chapters. The NAASC, in conjunction with the New York Chapter, created its first national raffle, which netted $35,000 for the College. In 1981, the NAASC created a Landscape Planning Committee that worked with the School of Environmental Design at the University of Georgia to develop a campus beautification campaign for Spelman. State Marker for Centennial Celebration.

During the nineties, several collaborative projects were completed - the national service project with the Children's Defense Fund, a joint fundraiser by students and the NAASC to restore the Grover-Werden fountain to working order and the opening of the first campus-based NAASC office in Manley Center in December 1991 under the first African American woman president, Dr. Johnnetta B. Cole.

In 1998, under an initiative of the first alumna president, Dr. Audrey F. Manley, Spelman leased some off-campus property to the NAASC to make possible association programming in the Atlanta community, to house current records and soon to set up the office of the first executive director of the NAASC. The NAASC Centennial Celebration was held in 1992. A Georgia state marker was placed at the entrance of the campus near the Dorothy Shepard Manley residence hall. This was the first time ever that a state marker was given by Georgia to recognize a group of people as opposed to an event or place. The NAASC, by providing enough documentation to the State to prove that the alumnae should be recognized, was responsible for making this a reality. It certainly was an appropriate recognition of the alumnae commitment to a century of service.

During 1992, the NAASC reached its highest membership base of 1302 members. Chapters formed in the nineties, such as Huntsville and the Bahamas , are being led by Spelman alumnae who graduated within the past five years. Visionary alumnae tried bold fund-raising efforts like those of the Los Angeles and the Hollywood/San Fernando Chapters. The $50,000 proceeds funded the Los Angeles Area Chapters Endowed Scholarship.