New Piedmont University Endowed Scholarship Honors Habersham’s Audrey Davenport

Piedmont University celebrated Audrey Davenport and a new endowed scholarship in her name on June 16 at a luncheon held at Sweet Breads in Demorest.

Davenport, who grew up in Cornelia, was honored for her many contributions to the Habersham County community. She serves as executive director of the Habersham County Historical Society (HCHS) and curator and president of the Regional African American Museum of Northeast Georgia. Davenport is known for her mentorship of students, her leadership in promoting multicultural community awareness and inclusion, and her genuine love and interest in moving Habersham County forward.

“In 2022, as executive director of the HCHS, I invited Stewart Swanson to become our board advisor, and he graciously accepted. His concern for our community, legacy of philanthropy, and genuine goodness led him to champion our purpose beyond anything we could have hoped for. This endowed scholarship further cements both the Stewart and Swanson families’ legacy of service in this area,” Davenport said.

“I am honored and humbled that my efforts and dedication to the communities of Habersham County have been recognized in this manner,” she said. “It will ease the financial burden that underserved students often encounter and encourage them to use what they learn for the betterment of the communities in which they live.”

Davenport is the director of business development for Chandler, Arizona-based Davenport Management & Consulting LLC, where she is responsible for envisioning the “big picture” for the company started by her brother, Anthony Davenport. (He and his daughter, Toni, made a surprise appearance at the luncheon celebrating the scholarship.) Since graduating as a non-traditional student from the Savannah College of Art and Design with undergraduate and graduate degrees in architecture, Davenport’s professional career has centered on project management and ideation development.

Northeast Georgia philanthropist and Piedmont Trustee Emeritus D. Stewart Swanson, Piedmont University current and past trustees, and others established the scholarship. Swanson said it would bolster Piedmont University President Marshall Criser’s top priority: student success.

“The creation and funding of this new student scholarship by past and present Piedmont Trustees demonstrates Piedmont’s unwavering commitment to inclusively ensure students succeed. It is exciting to simultaneously honor Audrey Davenport for her years of local community support and multicultural outreach, to provide scholarship assistance to deserving under-represented college students in need, and to assist with Piedmont’s priority on student success all at the same time,” Swanson said. “With Audrey’s ongoing student mentorship and a focus on community awareness, we plan to encourage the community to join us in support of growing this scholarship annually so that we can positively impact as many lives as possible.”

The Audrey Davenport Endowed Scholarship will be awarded to underrepresented Black/African American or BIPOC non-traditional female students.

For more information about scholarships at Piedmont University, visit piedmont.edu/scholarships/.