2004 Diversity Award recipients announced

Utah State University’s 11th annual Diversity Award winners were announced and will be recognized by President Kermit L. Hall at a ceremony next fall.

Judith Hold, Elizabeth York, Liz Allred, Emma Mecham, Braden Jenkins and the Logan City Schools South Campus staff are the 2004 recipients of the award, which recognizes individuals on campus and in the Cache Valley community who have made significant contributions to affirmative action, equal opportunity and diversity.

Hold, who received the award for the Administrator category, is the director of interdisciplinary training at the Center for Persons with Disabilities (CPD) and a faculty member in the department of special education and rehabilitation. Programs developed by Hold reach students at the graduate and undergraduate levels and involve faculty from 14 disciplines. Hold’s projects include the Interdisciplinary Training Program at CPD and the Utah Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities program, a collaborative effort of the CPD and the University of Utah Medical School.

York, an associate professor of Music and director of Music Therapy at Utah State, will be honored in the category of Faculty. Named an American Association of University Women research fellow, York used her sabbatical to work with women who had been abused. Through poetry, music and movement, York helped women express their fears, anger, struggle and path out of abuse through a performance project titled “Finding Voice.” York was recently awarded a Community-University Research Initiative grant to examine the experiences of Latin women and their children who have been in abusive situations.

Allred, an administrative assistant of the biology department, will receive the award in the Staff category. Allred has lived in many countries throughout her life and has spent a significant amount of time volunteering with less fortunate minorities. She worked with the homeless in Washington, D.C., and helped French-speaking African political refugees and émigrés in that city. She is a literacy volunteer, working primarily with minority women to improve their English reading, writing and speaking skills. Allred is a volunteer advisor to the Utah State International Student Council and works with community organizations to arrange international programs with Utah State students.

For the first time in the 11-year history of the Utah State Diversity Awards, two Utah State students will receive the award in the category of Student: Braden Jenkins, an undergraduate student in pre marketing and pre finance, and Emma Mecham, who is completing a master of arts in writing and literature and is a graduate instructor in English.

Jenkins is actively involved with the development and implementation of several multicultural student organizations including the Academic Scholars program and the Attitude Character Exploration Synergy organization, both of which are focused on multicultural students. Jenkins helped establish Realizing Educational Potential Week for incoming multicultural students with learning programs and events. He is involved with the Utah Intercollegiate Assembly, a student organization that cultivates bills to take to the Utah State Legislature, and was an integral part of developing the bill that proposed diversity education requirements. Jenkins is currently a teaching assistant for the multicultural leadership class.

Mecham, who received her bachelor of arts in international studies and if fluent in Spanish, will serve a two-month internship this summer in Pachuca, Mexico, teaching in the local community college, researching the organization and learning of information among the students. Mecham has had many international experiences, including a two-month stay in Peru during the summer of 2003 where she researched classroom management and university relations. She also worked on a rainforest preservation education project in Costa Rica, as a third grade teacher in India and as a volunteer at a hospital in Calcutta. Serving as the former health and safety coordinator for the Cache County American Red Cross, Mecham was responsible for HIV/AIDS curriculum and CPR classes for Spanish sections as well as classes for blind and deaf students.

The South Campus high school staff and faculty received the Community Member award for their dedication to addressing, teaching and exemplifying the guiding rule by which the school operates – respect for self and for each other. The school is actively involved in many different multicultural events throughout the year, including a multicultural fair held each spring. Students at the school volunteer at elementary schools where they assist children of many different backgrounds. The staff and faculty also work with students with disabilities at Wilson Elementary School. All projects at the school are self-initiated, without school funding.