Webb Receives Howell Award for Promoting Diversity

EAST GREENSBORO, N.C. (June 24, 2025) – The American College of Health Association (ACHA) has honored North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University’s assistant vice chancellor of Health and Wellness with one of its most prestigious awards for a second time.

Padonda B. Webb ‘03, DNP, FNP-BC, is the 2025 recipient of the Hannibal E. Howell Jr. Award for Promoting Diversity in College Health. She first received the award in 2021.

Webb is a board-certified health care provider whose experience includes emergency medicine, critical care, urgent care and primary care in the Triad, in addition to student health services. Her work with ACHA has included establishing and serving as co-chair for Historically Black College and University (HBCU) Coalition and serving as co-chair for the Racial Marginalization and Health Inequities Task Force.

During her nine years working for her alma mater, Webb served in various clinical and leadership positions within the Dr. Alvin V. Blount Jr. Student Health Center, where she has been executive director since 2020 and successfully guided the university community through the COVID-19 pandemic. Under her leadership, A&T was one of four universities in the University of North Carolina System that stepped up to vaccinate people in the community as well as students, faculty and staff on campus, establishing a national model for fighting the pandemic.

As Blount Student Health Center executive director, Webb earned the N.C. A&T University Award for Excellence in Aggie Pride (Going the Extra Mile), 2021 N.C. A&T Student Affairs Outstanding Employee and Campus Partner Leadership Award, among many other accolades.

Additionally, she continues to serve as co-principal investigator for the HBCU Healthy Equity Data Consortium partnership with North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.

Webb received a B.S. in nursing from A&T, M.S. in nursing from Winston-Salem State University and DNP from the University of South Alabama-Mobile. She is both a registered nurse (RN) and an advanced practice RN and is certified in Basic Cardiac Life Support by the American Red Cross and Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support by the American Heart Association. She taught at Winston-Salem State, where she remains an adjunct professor, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She also has published several papers and presented her expertise at regional and national health conferences.

Since 1920, ACHA has been the principal leadership organization for advancing the health and well-being of college students and campus communities. It is a collaborative community where members can address issues important to their work, and it provides research, advocacy, resources and education to support higher education professionals and their institutional missions.