Transforming Leadership from Service to Scholarship: SBS Excellence in Leadership Award Winner Dillon Scott Britten, ‘24

Dillon Scott Britten, who is graduating with a major in Anthropology and a minor in Classics, is the recipient of the winter 2024 SBS Excellence in Leadership and Community Engagement Award, which recognizes a graduating senior who has demonstrated exemplary leadership skills through their involvement on and off campus and their impact on the lives of others.

“In a world where it becomes increasingly hard to find individuals with unwavering dedication to do all parts of a position, small and big, behind the scenes and in the spotlight, Dillon is a gem: he stands apart, and he simply shines,” said Eleni Hasaki, professor in the School of Anthropology.  “He is fully present, fully engaged, and fully invested in the success of the project at hand and the success of the team.”

After serving five years in the U.S. Navy, Dillon enrolled in the University of Arizona. As a master-at-arms in the military, he was charged with safeguarding, maintaining, and issuing government property and equipment — a responsibility he took seriously and one that carried into his coursework and active leadership in civilian life at the U of A. 

“Dillon Britten is a person of outstanding character and is remarkable for his tenaciousness and drive to excel in his transition from a military career to an undergraduate student,” said Irene Romano, professor in the School of Anthropology. “I had the pleasure of teaching him in two classes in his first year at Uof A. In both, the much younger students … gravitated to him, looking to him as the class leader. He set a tone of seriousness, exemplary hard work, and respect for fellow students and me as the professor.”

Dillon has applied his leadership skills in capacities outside the classroom as well. He interned with the Bureau for Applied Research in Anthropology, or BARA, through the Arizona State Museum and currently serves as the V.E.T.S. Center Veteran Services student lead. He also manages the Laboratory for Traditional Technology — a role he was invited to take on because of his “excellent management, inclusive style of leadership, and formidable sense of responsibility and duty,” Hasaki said.

Dillon's future is bright. He anticipates continuing his education through graduate school and a doctoral program. As a new dad, he is inspired to keep growing as a leader and says his children “act as a metaphorical fire within me, to keep going.” 

To future graduates he added, "Don’t let your comfort zone prevent you from achieving your goals.”

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