The Celie J. Terry Prize, established by Sanford Cloud Jr., Former Chair of Hartford Seminary’s Board of Trustees, is awarded each year to a student who demonstrates a commitment to academic achievement and excellence in interfaith community work in Greater Hartford.

Sanford Cloud Jr. presented the 2016 prize at graduation to Aida Mansoor, a Master of Arts in Religious Studies graduate who is also the President of the Muslim Coalition of Connecticut.

This is the citation read at graduation:

Aida has been a student at Hartford Seminary for a number of years, having received her Islamic Chaplaincy graduate certificate in 2012. But her commitment to building bridges of understanding among people of different faiths and cultures goes way beyond Hartford Seminary’s walls.

She is President of the Muslim Coalition of CT and a board member of the Connecticut Council for Interreligious Understanding. If there is an interfaith panel, discussion or talk in Connecticut, she is probably there, devoting her time, energy, patience and photography skills to the cause.

Her professors call her a wonderful student and a kind and compassionate member of the Hartford Seminary community.