UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — As we reach mid-February, Penn State’s celebration of Black History Month continues, including recognizing trailblazers like Mildred Settle Bunton, the first Black female student to attend Penn State and — along with Calvin H. Waller, the University's first Black alumnus — a namesake of Penn State's Bunton-Waller Awards.

The Bunton-Waller scholarship and fellowship awards are made annually to students who have demonstrated academic potential and contribute to the ethnic, cultural or socio-economic diversity of the student body.

Raised in poverty as the seventh of nine children, Bunton faced significant financial challenges but had a wealth of determination. The Uniontown, Pennsylvania, native graduated from high school with top honors and began her studies at the University of New Orleans, making the dean's list while working as a babysitter. In 1929 she transferred to Penn State, where she was the first — and only — Black co-ed on campus (by 1930, women comprised about 16% of the total undergraduate population).

She earned room and board by working for faculty, and paid her tuition through borrowing state funds and winning academic scholarships (two from the State Federation of Pennsylvania Women).

Bunton's name was consistently on the dean's list, and in 1932 she graduated with honors and the highest grades in the Home Economics department. She went on to earn her master's in nutrition at Cornell University in 1953.

Among her many career accomplishments, she served as director of dietetics at Freedmen's Hospital in Washington, D.C., and was an associate professor at Howard University. She participated in numerous panels, committees and organizations, including the 1969 White House Conference on Nutrition, Food and Health; and served as subcommittee chairman on the District of Columbia's Mayor's Commission on Food, Nutrition and Health.

She received many accolades for her life's work in advancing nutrition as a science and a profession. In 1973, Penn State named her a Distinguished Alumna, the highest honor the University bestows on its alumni.