Philosophy of Art Student Symii Ruffin Wins Grand Prize

Philosophy of Art student Symii Ruffin, in collaboration with Leanna Hubers, recently won the grand prize in the 2025 Merze Tate Art Commission Contest. The 2nd year political science major had this to say about the winning artwork:

“This drawing is the “Modern-day Tate” because Merze Tate is all the women who came before her and inspired the women who are alive today. Dr. Merze Tate was a woman who learned the past to understand the present and therefore lay claim to a better future. Tate’s never-ending advancements gave women today, especially black women, the ability to recognize that they can achieve for more than what they are given and expected to. Dr. Merze Tate understood the gravity of the then social expectations placed on her, which underestimated how far she would go. Many women today must face the same realities she did as well, but she gave us the tools to embrace how we can be more than what society makes us out to be. So, Dr. Tate is the modern woman, ambitious, intelligent, kind, gifted, leaner, purposeful, and dedicated. We are Tate and Tate is us.

"Our mission was to honor Dr. Merze Tate and show our gratitude for the incredible impact she had on paving the way for women, especially Black women, to break barriers and defy expectations. We feel very privileged to be able to celebrate her legacy and create something that represented her and all that she encompassed. Dr. Tate’s commitment to knowledge and her vision for a better future inspired us and we hope that our artwork further inspires others."