Hosted by Chancellor and Mrs. Larry K. Monteith, the event honors an African-American who has made significant contributions as a scholar and a humanitarian. Six outstanding African-American students representing St. Augustine's College, Shaw University and NC State also will be honored at the dinner.
Attendance is by invitation only.
Born in 1956, Benjamin attended Xavier University in New Orleans, and was a member of the second class of Morehouse School of Medicine. She received her medical degree from the University of Alabama, Birmingham, and completed her residency in family practice at the Medical Center of Central Georgia in Macon. After entering practice in Bayou LaBatre, Ala., a small shrimping village on the Gulf of Mexico, Benjamin spent many years moonlighting in emergency rooms and nursing homes to keep her practice open. She received a master's in business administration from Tulane University and converted her office to a rural health clinic. She said she chooses to work in Bayou La Batre because it is a place where there is need and one doctor's presence can make a difference.