Congratulations to this year's Diversity Awards Recipients!!

click here to see pictures from this year's award banquet night

Lifetime Achievement Award

Dr. Josepha Campinha-Bacote

one of the nation's most influential theorists, consultants, and advocates on transcultural healthcare and mental health nursing, is the fifth recipient of the University's Diversity Award for Lifetime Achievement.

She is being honored for her leadership role in positioning models and standards of cultural competence as central to healthcare training and preparation. Several Colleges of nursing, pharmacy, social work and medicine have incorporated her conceptual model, "The Process of Cultural Competence in The Delivery of Healthcare Services: A Culturally Competent Model of Care," nto their undergraduate and graduate programs of study. She is president and founder of Transcultural C.A.R.E Associates, a private consultation service focusing on clinical, administrative, research, and educational issues in transcultural health care and mental health.

Dr. Campinha-Bacote has taught at the Ohio State University and the University of Cincinnati, and currently teaches at Case Western Reserve University. She has published often, presented widely, and has served as consultant to Federal Government agencies, including the National Advisory Committee to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health, which was charged with developing standards for culturally and linguistically appropriate services in health care.

She holds a B. S. degree from the University of Rhode Island, a M. S. from Texas Women's University, a M. A. from Cincinnati Christian University, and a Ph. D. from the University of Virginia. She is married to Dr. Dexter Campinha-Bacote, a physician and medical director for a health care organization, and they have three children, Avonte, Darius, and Nia.

Undergraduate Student Excellence (Academic/Service) Award

Richa Gujarati

Richa is a sophomore majoring in Electrical and Computer Engineering. She is being honored for her academic record and her commitment to global awareness and cross-cultural interaction on campus. As treasurer of the Model United Nations and a member of its executive committee, she has helped to coordinate a variety of events such as the United Nations' Peace Day, the Hunger Banquet, and attendance at the Harvard Model UN conference to increase awareness about global, political, and diversity issues. As a mentor for the Science and Math Investigative Learning Experience Program (SMILE), she has helped high school kids in developing science projects and in preparing them for transitioning from high school to college. As an Academic Enhancement Center tutor and a member of the ICAS project, she has provided academic support for students from different races and backgrounds. In addition, she has participated in interactive programs such as Unity Weekend, and Boxes and Walls.

Victor Omoayo

Victor is a senior majoring in Journalism. He is being honored for his academic record, his modeling and advocacy of high performance standards, and his commitment to the development of infrastructure in diverse student organizations. As Secretary of the URI NAACP, he initiated a strategic breakthrough by compiling well-crafted minutes of organizational minutes and disseminating them to non-student stakeholders. As Vice President of the NAACP, he has worked with Nuvolab Media to develop an organizational website. In addition, he coordinated a forum, "Brothers and Sisters, Listen!", where students and faculty discussed images of African Americans in the mass media, the use of the "N" word, and violence against women. He helped to organize a film screening and discussion of the 2006 Oscar winning film, Crash. After the protest of a controversial speaker in November, he prepared a student response in the Good Five Cent Cigar. In addition, he has represented the NAACP on the MUSIC Council, and has actively participated in the Cape Verdean Student Association (CVSA). Under the auspices of CVSA, he demonstrated his understanding of the culture through his well -- researched presentation on the history of Carnival in Cape Verde during February, 2006.

Undergraduate Student Excellence (Leadership/Service) Award

Natasha Austin

Natasha is a senior majoring in International Business. She is being honored for her profound commitment to enacting the principles of participatory citizenship. Her approach to leadership springs from at least two sources: her understanding of the history, traditions, and historical significance of the NAACP, the nation's oldest extant civil rights organization; and the influence of the mentor and adviser to the URI NAACP, Dr. Bernard Lafayette, Jr. Under the leadership of her and her sister, Nicole, the URI NAACP has challenged students to participate in the decisions that affect their lives, conducting voter registration campaigns, promoting political education, and extending outreach to the state and regional NAACP. Through Dr. Lafayette, she and the other members of the leadership have received training in the theory and practice of Kingian nonviolence. Over the last two years, she and Nicole have traveled to the South to tour historic sites of the civil rights movement; invited important civil rights leaders, such as Georgette Norman and Joyce McWilliams to campus for lectures; and have attended the Council of Elders retreat sponsored by civil rights activist Harry Belafonte.

Bekki Davis

Bekki is a sophomore majoring in Human Development and Family Studies. She is being honored for her commitment to implementing inclusive education in which all on campus are included and respected. As Resident Assistant for Rainbow Diversity House, she has helped to work on the Annual GBLT Symposium which attracts participants from all over the nation; participated in The Welcome Project to create a more open and friendly campus climate for students of diverse sexual orientation; and recruited students to participate in URI Unity Weekend. She also acted in the play, The Vagina Monologues, raising money and awareness about the campus domestic violence prevention program. Along with her RA peers, she helped to organize the Bourbon Street Bash to raise money and awareness for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. As a Corps Member and Team Leader of the URI Jumpstart Program, she has contributed 516 hours of volunteer service to date. She has served as a mentor for 11 preschool age children, helping them to develop language skills, literacy skills, and social skills.

Princess Garrett

Princess is a senior in Journalism and Leadership Development. She is being honored for her history of working across group boundaries to create coalitions for progressive social change. As President of Uhuru Sa Sa, she has administered one of the largest, oldest, and most active student constituencies among campus organizations, and has influenced her organization to move in new directions while continuing connections with the past. Under her leadership, Uhuru Sa Sa coordinated a performance by the multicultural feminist group Herstory during Diversity Week 2005. The night of poetry celebrating the lives of women and promoting awareness of women's issues raised several hundred dollars for the survivors of Hurricane Katrina. In her leadership decisions, she has demonstrated a visionary political acumen by embracing an array of bold initiatives to prepare the organization for a changing political landscape in the 21st century -- providing the URI community more substantive yet engaging educational programming, creating opportunities for faculty and staff to interact with students, decentralizing opportunities for leadership within the executive board, raising money for charitable causes, and collaborating with the NAACP. In addition, she helped to organize the 2005 URI Annual Women of Color Conference while participating in the Rose Butler Browne Leadership and Mentoring Program. She is currently a Resident Assistant in Browning Hall.

Undergraduate Student Excellence (Artistic/Cultural) Award

Rama Ly

Rama is a junior majoring in biological sciences. She is being honored for her contributions to the nurturing of ethnic dance at URI. Popular with her peers, Rama is at the center of almost every effort on campus to strengthen bonds between students of all ethnicity who love dance forms of the black world, whether from her native Senegal, Brazil, Cape Verde, or the inner cities of the USA. Her great passion for and dedication to the preservation and performance of ethnic dance is reflected by her participation in such movement-related student groups as Brazilian-Cape Verdean Capoeira, Alima International Dance Association, Cape Verdean Student Association, and URI Breakdancing Crew. Currently she serves as President of Alima, which presented "The Rhythm of the Soul" revue, presenting fourteen student organizations from colleges and high schools in Rhode Island in a homage to ethnic dance. She has also performed at URI Diversity Week, and at the URI World Voices/World Visions Summer Camp. In addition, Rama serves as Co-Chair of MUSIC, Secretary of EEPMA, a member of the women's track team, and a Resident Assistant at Coddington Hall.

Odoum Maknoxa

Odie is a senior majoring in Industrial Engineering. He is being honored for his commitment to educating the campus community about the complexity of thought and the level of skills required to understand and appreciate breakdancing. According to him, "breakdancing elevates your soul, body, and mind." As President of the URI Breakdancing Crew, he has elevated awareness of breakdancing and hiphop culture on campus by organizing seminars and lectures, by training students in moves, such as the "flair," the "windmill," the "six step," and the "up rock." He has participated in such events as the Annual URI Diversity Week Kick Off Celebration, the Cape Verdean Student Association, and Black History Month Celebration Banquet. Earlier this year, he led the campaign to organize the first regional breakdancing competition, BREAK THRU: 2VS2 Breakdance Battle, which brought "b-boys" and "b-girls" from all over New England. In addition, he is a member of the Asian Students Association, participates in MUSIC, and serves as a mentor at the Met High School in Providence.

Graduate Student Excellence (Leadership/Service) Award

Koyel Ghosal

Koyel is a graduate student majoring in Biochemistry. She is being honored for her accomplishments as a highly skilled performer of Indian Classical Music, and as an ambassador, teacher, and promoter of Indian music, dance and culture throughout New England. She has performed her soothing music on the sitar and spoken her message of peace during the South Asia Amity Day at Waterplace Park in Providence, at various fundraisers for the tsunami and earthquake victims of Pakistan and India, at the Diwali celebrations organized by the URI Indian Students Association and the Indian Association of Rhode Island, and at the URI World Voices World Visions Concert. As President of the Indian Students Association at URI, she has marketed the organization beyond the Indian community to enable more interaction with different communities and to encourage exchange of cultures and beliefs. Having studied sitar since childhood under the tutelage of some of India's great classical musicians, she has helped to attract some of those musicians to perform concerts in Providence and Boston. In addition, she has introduced Indian Classical Music and Sitar to the URI campus through performances and lecture demonstrations in the Department of Music. Tonight was her third performance at the URI Diversity Awards.

La'shunda Reed

La'shunda is a graduate student majoring in Communication Studies. She is being honored for her role in planning and development of the URI Academic Enhancement Center (AEC) Intercultural Community for Academic Success (ICAS) initiative. Working with the Director of the AEC, she has played a central role in designing strategies for personnel hiring, staff development, promoting outreach to students, staff, and faculty, and building collaborative relationships with Talent Development and the Multicultural Center. After ICAS was developed, students of color have increased their usage of the AEC services by 30 -- 40%. In addition, she is a Graduate Teaching Assistant in Communication Studies, where she was responsible for training incoming Graduate Teaching Assistants about creating inclusive classrooms, and assisting in the development of a training manual. She has also served as a Talent Development Counselor for the Summer Pre-Matriculation Program, and as a Facilitator for URI Unity Weekend.

Staff/Administrative Excellence (Leadership/Service) Award

Andrew Llaguno

Andrew is Senior Associate Athletic Trainer in the Department of Athletics. He is being honored for his networking and service in support of ethnic diversity within the profession of athletic training. As Liaison to the Ethnic Diversity Advisory Council (EDAC) of the National Athletic Training Association (NATA), he helped to develop the Council into a national committee within the NATA, build the EDAC website, and promote awareness of grants, mentoring, and scholarships for ethnic diversity within Rhode Island. As President of the Rhode Island Athletic Training Association and a member of the Interscholastic League Sports Medicine Advisory Committee, he has helped to address ethnic diversity in sport medicine at all educational levels. As a member of NATA, he has authored four articles on ethnic diversity in athletic training and sports medicine within the NATA News- NATA Medical Journal. In addition, he has mobilized members of the URI football team to participate in the Annual Walk for Autism to raise awareness; served as a volunteer for the U.S Scholar and World Scholar Games; and has addressed diverse health issues during his classes.

Merith Weisman- Ross

Merith is the Coordinator of the Feinstein Center for Service Learning. She is being honored for her leadership in designing and expanding the range of opportunities available to URI students for service learning and civic engagement. As the Feinstein Center Coordinator, she oversees service learning opportunities for the 2000+ incoming freshmen who are enrolled in the URI 101; provides support to over 40 students who participate in Jumpstart, a national early childhood program with 3 different south county sites and links volunteers to more than seventy community partners in Rhode Island who provides a range of services to the underprivileged, sick, and disabled. She has taught courses in Contemporary Issues in Student Development, Service in the Community, and Leadership for Activism and Social Change. As a steering committee member of the URI Association of Professional and Academic Women she has helped to organize the "Woman of the Year" Awards Ceremony. In addition, she has helped URI students create "Boxes and Walls- The Oppression Experiment" in 2004 and 2005, which exposed students vicariously to be emotional experience of discrimination.

Faculty Excellence (Leadership/Service) Award

Dr. Kathleen Ellis

Dr. Ellis is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Kinesiology. She is being honored for her teaching, research, and advocacy related to the deaf and other special needs populations. As a researcher, she has addressed such topics as the physical fitness levels, physical education needs, and the influences of parents and schools on deaf children. As an authority in adaptive physical education, she has contributed to the evolution of the nationally recognized URI Aquatics Programs. In the summer of 2005, she mobilized a contingent of URI students to assist children with special needs at "Camp Ability" on the SUNY -- Brockport campus. As a faculty member, she serves as a disability mentor for her department, incorporates diversity topics into her classroom environment, and organizes individualized sports skills programs that pair pre-professional majors with children of special needs. As a member of the State Rehabilitation Advisory Council, she advocates for equity for special needs populations. As a member of the Rhode Island School for the Deaf (RISD) Board of Trustees, she serves as a liaison between URI, RISD, and the Rhode Island Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Dr. Roger LeBrun

Dr. LeBrun is a professor of plant science and entomology. He is being honored for his commitment to researching and combating infectious diseases and to promoting human rights in developing nations. Through this research he has established a network of scholars that enables him to place graduate students and post docs with collaborators on several continents. As a Fulbright Senior Scholar in Global Public Health, he has just received an award that positions him to train physicians in India and Vietnam to fight emerging vector-borne diseases, such as malaria and encephalitis, over the next five years. As a faculty member of the College of Environmental and Life Sciences, he has organized the 2006 URI Spring Honors colloquium on the "The Global Challenge of Emerging Infectious Disease in Developing Nations." As organizer of the URI RESULTS, he has established a chapter of an international advocacy and lobbying organization that mobilizes students and faculty to initiate political action support of the Global Fund and promises made by the developed nations. As a prize winning war photographer, he has donated proceeds to "Doctors without Borders", his favorite charity, earmarketing the monies for strife-torn Darfur in Sudan. In addition, he has served as an advisor to Talent Development students, and a student disability mentor.

Dr. Kathryn Quina

Dr. Quina is a professor of Psychology in Women's Studies. She is being honored for her contributions to the research and theory of feminist psychology and for her mastery of the mentoring of graduate students. As a researcher, she has contributed to approximately 22 books, 6 articles, and a monograph on subjects related to the victimization of women, addressing diverse topics, ranging from power relationships to integrating women into the curriculum, teaching about teaching, adult education, and multicultural education. One of her most important publications is the recent book, Teaching Gender and Multicultural Awareness: Resources for the Psychology Classroom (2003) with Phyllis Bronstein. This award winning book showcases the work of ten URI faculty, students, and alumni among its thirty authors. As a consultant, she has assisted a Graduate Psychology Program at the Nevada -- Los Vegas on diversity issues. As Graduate Curriculum Chair, she has promoted the infusion of multicultural Didactic, Applied, and Research Components into the requirements for all graduate students completing the doctorate in Psychology at URI. Some of her most important contributions have been made through her mentoring, which has helped to promote the graduate and professional careers of women and other underrepresented groups. In recognition of her mentoring excellence, she was nominated by her students and received the first Florence Denmark Mentoring Award from the Association for Women and Psychology in 2005.

Organization Excellence (Leadership/Service) Award

URI NAACP and Uhuru Sa Sa (Joint Nomination)

Among the most influential student organizations promoting social activism are Uhuru SaSa founded c. 1973 to promote an understanding of Black culture and politics; and the URI NAACP, founded c. 2002 to promote civil rights, desegregation, and racial equity within the URI campus community. The two organizations are being honored for their collaboration in exemplifying the highest principles of citizenship -- the right to have a voice, the right to be heard, the responsibility to listen, the responsibility to be civil, and the right to engage in critical analysis of the civic sphere. During November, 2005, NAACP collaborated with Uhuru Sa Sa to conduct a silent demonstration by "the URI 50" students against a lecture by racial provocateur and ultra-conservative David Horowitz -- one of the finest moments in the history of student protest at the University of Rhode Island. Students contested him over his efforts to eradicate liberal thought. In doing so, they upheld academic freedom as a bedrock principle of the academic community. During the 2005 -- 2006 academic year, the two organizations elevated the quality of their educational programming to unprecedented level. The NAACP held the third Annual Celebrations of Black History Banquet, dedicated to the life of the late Coretta Scott King and highlighted by a motivational speech by political activist Malia Lazu. In addition, they presented a screening of Hotel Rwanda, a film about genocide in Rwanda, West Africa, in 1994; and collaborated with Uhuru Sa Sa to present an open mic, featuring spoken word poets Muhibb Dyer and Kwabena Antoine Nixon of Milwukee, WI. Uhuru Sa Sa sponsored Herstory during URI Diversity Week; coordinated "Shake it for Sugar," a danceathon to raise money and awareness for victims of diabetes; and brought faculty, staff, and students together for the third Annual Kwanzaa Ball.

Last updated: 05/02/2006