Omar Villanueva, an Emory graduate student in chemistry, has been named a 2014 recipient of the annual K. Patricia Cross Future Leaders Award by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U).

The award recognizes graduate students for their commitment to academic and civic responsibility whose work reflects a strong emphasis on teaching and learning and who show exemplary promise as future leaders of higher education, according to the AAC&U, a national association concerned with the quality, vitality and public standing of undergraduate liberal education.

Villaneuva was among eight graduate students from a pool of 225 nominees representing 125 institutions of higher education across the nation to receive the future leaders award, named in honor of K. Patricia Cross, professor of higher education, emerita, at the University of California, Berkeley.

The 2014 Cross Scholars will be introduced to the AAC&U community and honored during its 2014 Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., Jan. 22-25. The Cross honorees will also be presenters in the session, "Faculty of the Future: Voices from the Next Generation."