Malikul Muhamad ’20 receives SUNY Chancellor’s Award

Malikul Muhamad ’20 is one of four Cornell seniors to receive the 2020 State University of New York Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence. He is joined by Talia Bailes ’20, from the College of Human Ecology; and Rosemary Glos ’20 and Amrit Hingorani ’20, both from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

Muhamad is a first-generation transfer student from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and an Indonesian refugee. He came to the ILR School in 2017 “and immediately became involved in the life of the school,” his nomination from the ILR Student Experience team stated.

“I honestly never really expected to have so many opportunities that I did while being a student here, and the fact that I'll be able to graduate from this incredible institution has opened up so many doors for myself and my family,” Muhamad said. “I'm humbled to be around such incredible and intelligent people. Other than that, I'm proud to have partaken in so many abroad opportunities, it's really broadened my perspective on a lot of issues and has given me the confidence to explore a potential career on an international stage.”

The nomination cited Muhamad for academic excellence, leadership and campus involvement, including Cornell Welcomes Refugees, working with peers and community partners; and the Islamic Alliance for Justice on campus. He also is an ILR admissions ambassador and president of the ILR Global Affairs Club.

An ILR Global Scholar, an academic distinction given to less than 5 percent of his class, Muhamad also spent six weeks applying his classroom learning in Mysore, India, and assisted a labor lawyer in introducing labor arbitration and alternative dispute resolution to the country. He attended court hearings, interviewed factory workers and managers, researched arbitration around the world, and wrote case studies and documentation as tools to build the field.

The annual awards honor students with a demonstrated ability to integrate “academic excellence with other aspects of their lives, [such as] leadership, campus involvement, athletics, career achievement, community service or creative and performing arts,” according to SUNY. In all, 214 students throughout the state university system were recognized this year.

SUNY Chancellor Kristina M. Johnson sent congratulatory letters to the honored students, and informed them that in-person award ceremonies originally planned for April 22 in Albany will be rescheduled as a virtual event. Awardees also will receive a certificate and a medallion to commemorate their selection.

“You stand out among the more than 415,500 students pursuing degrees at SUNY, a reflection of your hard work and dedication,” Johnson wrote.