Multicultural Center

Diversity Awards 2009

The Awards Celebration was held on:
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Memorial Union Ballroom
6:30-8:30pm

Congratulations to this year's Diversity Awards Recipients!!

Lifetime Achievement Award

Clarice Odhiambo is being honored as the eighth recipient of URI‘s Diversity Award for Lifetime Achievement because of her leadership and advocacy in promoting the improvement of water quality in Kenya and other African countries. In Africa Rising: How 900 Million African Consumers Offer More Than You Think (Wharton, 2008), she is portrayed as one of the global entrepreneurs of Africa in one of the world’s fastest growing markets. However, one of the greatest threats to Africa’s economic progress is posed by the prevalence of water-borne or sanitation-related diseases. These diseases make up the majority of Kenya’s morbidity rate and are responsible for over 60 percent of premature deaths. She is the CEO & Founder of Africa Center for Engineering Social Solutions(ACESS), a company that exists to uplift the livelihood of the people in Africa, particularly rural women and children by developing water purification, well drilling, wastewater treatment projects, as well as family and community education about sanitation and hygiene. Her initiative seeks to ensure that Africa’s people benefit from a new spirit of entrepreneurship and new technology to create economic development. ACESS forges strong multi-stakeholder partnerships between those who need help and those who can provide it, acting as a bridge connecting industry, philanthropists, and students. She holds a Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from URI in 1988; and has 20 years of experience working for multinationals in the private sector in industrial processing. Before founding ACESS in 2007, she was the Coca-Cola Africa Water Partnership Manager, managing external partnership activities, including supporting community development activities in water and sanitation and developing multi-industrial partnership to help local communities. Upon leaving URI, she worked as a research scientist for Betz Paperchem in Florida, where she earned two of the six patents she holds. Subsequently, she joined Unilever in Kenya, where she was employed in several managerial positions. It was after she came to Coca-Cola that she was able to work with CARE, UNICEF, Proctor & Gamble, and others on the Global Water Challenge to “deliver clean water, sanitation, and hygiene education projects… share best practices, and raise global visibility and support”. After visiting the corporation’s water projects in 56 countries in Africa, she observed how they transformed poor and unhealthy communities into healthy ones, has made the improvement of water quality her life mission. An article in QUAD ANGLES observes that “she brings an irresistible combination of solid scientific training enthusiasm, and personal warmth to her mission. When she traveled to other colleges and universities in New England, she received positive responses to her (plans) from President Ruth Simmons of Brown and from administrators and faculty at Dartmouth, CCRI, and the University of Hartford.” Her daughter, Alice,’11, is the fifth member of this Kenyan family to matriculate at URI.

Undergraduate Student Excellence (Academic/Service)

Ronald H. Duarte is being honored for his academic excellence and his role modeling as a returning military veteran. A sophomore from Providence majoring in Computer Engineering, he has achieved a 3.95 GPA. A member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, Pi Mu Epsilon National Honorary Mathematics Society and Alpha Sigma Lambda National Honor Society, he has contributed to the campus community by tutoring engineering students, and by collaborating with the Latin American Student Association (LASA) to advocate for academic excellence. In addition, he has completed two tours in Iraq during his 4 years of active duty in the U.S. Army.

Jessica Adefusika is being honored for her academic excellence and her activism in promoting community service learning and volunteering. A junior from Westerly majoring in Clinical Lab Science, she has attained a 3.85 GPA while serving as a model for other students in maintaining balance between academics and the co-curriculum. Through the URI Mentor and Tutoring Intern Program, she has worked with diverse seventh-to-ninth graders to strengthen their skills in Mathematics, English and Social Science at the Urban Collaborative Accelerated Program in Providence. Through the URI Alternative Spring Break program, she has traveled to New Orleans, and Birmingham to work with students from several universities to repair homes for the working poor and homeless. As a Service Learning Mentor for URI 101, she facilitated student projects with Hasbro Children’s Hospital, the Rhode Island Children’s Crusade, the South County Museum Faire (sic), and the Rhode Island Food Pantry. In addition, she is a Resident Assistant at Hopkins, and has worked on service projects with the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, and the National Eating Disorder Association. She is also a member of the Honors Program Student Advisory Board, Future Health Professionals, and Students about the Business of Change.

Undergraduate Student Excellence (Artistic/Cultural)

Samuel Aboh is being honored for his leadership of an imaginative, campus-wide project which reminds us that art can be a compelling instrument for social change. A senior from Providence majoring in English and Secondary Education, he marshaled the support of the Student Alliance for the Welfare of Africa (SAWA), Keep a Child Alive, UHURU SaSa, and Alima Dance Association to adapt the campaign created by the supermodel, cosmetics CEO, and global ambassador Iman to URI. While she applied tribal African makeup to Alicia Keys, Gwyneth Paltrow, Lucy Liu, David Bowie, Seal, and other international celebrities to increase awareness of the impact of AIDS on Africa, raise funds, and emphasize the commonality of us all in the human family whose DNA derives from the people of Africa, Samuel delivered a similar message to the campus by drafting President Carothers and other campus leaders of all races to create “the great student multicultural project of the academic year.” As he said, “The notion …is that we are all African and so if for instance, if Africa were burning, we all should want to help put out the fire. Beyond my wildest dreams, the campaign brought a lot of people together, the 5-Cent Cigar ran a story of it, and for a while it was ‘the talk of the town’.” Combining his passion for photography with his desire to educate Americans about the ‘real’ Africa, Samuel, along with SAWA, displayed the project’s portraits in Hope Commons, the Memorial Union, and the Multicultural Center. In addition, Samuel serves as founding President of SAWA; worked to raise the standards for writing and researching articles for the UHURU SaSa newsletter; coordinated the Living Water Banquet as a fundraiser for the Africa Center for Engineering Social Solutions (ACESS); acted as student emcee for the 2009 Dr. Martin Luther King Unity Luncheon; arranged the Crossing Lines discussion to allow students to exchange ideas about interracial relationships; and conducted a public inquiry on immigration issues.

Undergraduate Student Excellence (Leadership/Service)

Brandon Brown is being honored for his leadership and service to students and student organizations; his service to the University; and his outreach to students preparing for higher education. A junior from Providence majoring in Political Science, Sociology, and African-American Studies, he is the first African-American to be appointed to represent students on the Rhode Island Board of Governors. As a member of the Board and its Academic and Student Affairs Committee, he has deliberated on issues, such as tuition increases, academic program evaluation, and arming of campus police. The responsibility of his position has helped Brandon grow as a person, a leader, a public speaker, and an engaged student while maintaining good grades. He recently served as a member of the URI Presidential Search Committee; and continues as a committee member and focus group organizer for the University’s Central Falls High School Initiative.
At URI, he has worked closely with Dr. Bernard Lafayette and the Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies in becoming a Certified Kingian Nonviolence Trainer; became the College of Arts and Sciences Rep to the URI Student Senate; served as President and Treasurer of the URI NAACP; provided advice as a Student Organization Consultant; and acted as Project Assistant and Group Leader with the Academic Enhancement Center in its Intercultural Community for Academic Success project. He has mentored and/or tutored middle or high school students since the year of his arrival on campus, working with Scope in Central Falls High School, with the Rhode Island Children’s Crusade at the Ralph Holden Community Center, and with the URI Transportation Center Summer Institute. He is also program facilitator for Young Voices, a youth empowerment group; and an intern for RI State Senator Harold Metts.

Yasah Vezele is being honored for her leadership and advocacy in increasing the representation of diverse students in the sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics. A senior from Providence majoring in Chemical Engineering (Pharmaceutical track), she has been elected to several leadership positions in the URI Chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), including Chapter Historian and Chapter Programs Chair. As current Chair of the Pre-College Initiative for the URI NSBE, she has conducted an afterschool information session at Hope High School in Providence. Her chapter involvement led to her election as Programs Chair on the NSBE Region 1 Executive Board, where she has participated in the organization of ten conferences; and coordinated “A Walk for Education” in Connecticut. In addition she is collaborating with one of her professors to prepare a research paper on microbial fuel cells; worked on a team poster presentation that appeared in Rhode Island EPScoR Magazine; and served as Secretary of the Resident Assistant Board, and as Treasurer of the URI American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

Graduate Student Excellence(Leadership/Service)

Kalyana Champlain is being honored for her leadership and advocacy in helping to bring legitimacy to the academic study of hip-hop; and her mentoring of undergraduate students. A Master’s level student in Communication Studies, she also teaches URI 101. Her graduate research is currently focused on the impact of social inequalities stemming from capitalism and slavery in shaping the sometimes misogynous, sometimes innovative, rhetoric of hip hop. After interrupting her undergraduate career, she became interested in the educative potential of hip hop while working with underrepresented youth as an AmeriCorps intern at AS 220 in Providence. An aspiring writer and spoken word performer, she joined Rhode Island artists and activists in recently releasing a CD on themes of homelessness and substandard housing, “Working in Harmony for Home and Hearth”, (Notable Works, and South County Habitat for Humanity, 2009), including her two selections, “Faceless”, and “Habitat”. During 2008, she performed at the Rhode 2 Africa Concert Series, URI Diversity Week, and the URI NAACP’s Battle of the Beats. She is also a Senator with the Graduate Student Association; has represented her College on the Dean’s Student Advisory Council; and is actively involved with the Alumni of Color Coalition, which arranges alumni panels to provide undergraduates with career information.

Cassandra Golding is being honored for her innovative research and publications on women's intimate relationships with women. A doctoral student in clinical psychology, she is particularly interested in studying relationship dynamics and female socialization in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual populations. While her Master's research involved the development of a scale to measure emotional dependence in female same-sex relationships, her doctoral research continues her earlier investigation, validating her measure and testing a sophisticated structural model with predictive pathways between early life experiences, sexual victimization, social support and identity variables, her measure of interdependency, relationship functioning and mental health variables in women involved in same-sex couples. Originally published in the Journal of Feminist Family Therapy, her article "Redefining the Nuclear Family: An Exploration of Resiliency in Lesbian Parents, has been reprinted in Lesbian Families' Challenges and Means of Resiliency, Haworth Press, 2007. She also has published two entries in the LGBTQ America Today Encyclopedia. Her rigorous program of preparation as a diversity professional is also worthy of note. As a graduate student, she has made 13 presentations at professional conferences. She was selected and funded to attend the week-long International LGBT Psychology Summer Research Institute at the University of Michigan, Ann-Arbor. She was also chosen to develop her program evaluation and training skills through the American Evaluation Association/Duquesne University Graduate Education Diversity Internship program. In addition, she has participated in supervised clinical placements at the URI Counseling Center, the Rhode Island Training School, and the Psychological Centers. Finally, she has served on the Psychology Department Multicultural Task Force; presented twice at the Annual URI GLBTQQ Symposium, and is an active member of the American Psychological Association.

Staff/Administrator Excellence(Leadership/Service)

Abu Bakr is being honored for his leadership in support of social justice and institutional development causes on campus. An Executive Assistant to the President and Director of Planning Services, he worked with Dr. Charles Collyer and President Carothers to establish the URI Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies; and currently helps to guide the University’s initiative to improve students’ academic performance at Central Falls High School. A former star basketball player at URI, he has chaired the university’s process to gain re-certification for its athletic programs from the NCAA; and currently provides on-air color commentary for URI men’s basketball. He has been Co-Chair of Planning and Evaluation for the University’s accreditation process with NEASC; and provided staff support to the University’s Joint Strategic Planning Committee, which promotes shared governance between faculty and administration. At URI, his passion for social justice is reflected by his involvement with numerous diversity projects. He has served as Director, Student Services, Feinstein Providence Campus; and President, Minority Alumni Council. He has convened the Faculty and Staff of Color Association; and assisted the President’s Commission on the Status of People of Color. In addition, he has assisted diversity initiatives of the College of Nursing, the Department of Psychology, the Student Affairs Division, the Alumni of Color Coalition, the Multicultural Center, the Diversity Task Force, and the Black Student Leadership Group. Moreover, he has administered student peer educators; and mentored black student athletes.

Dr. Harold Bibb is being honored for his work to improve campus conditions for the recruitment, retention, and completion of students of color in graduate school. An Associate Dean of the Graduate School and a Professor of Biology, he serves as liaison between the University and several extramural program initiatives to address the chronic underrepresentation of students of color at the graduate level at URI, regionally, and nationally. Co-editor of The Developmental Neurobiology of the Frog (Wiley, 1988), his research specialty is the development of the nervous system in frogs. At URI, he has been Chair, President’s Commission on the Status of People of Color; and Advisor, New England Land-Grant Universities Student Exchange Program. Previously, he has been a member of the College of Engineering Diversity Committee, the Information Resources Council, the African and African-American Studies Advisory Committee, and the Racial Harassment Committee. He currently acts as Emcee for the Black Scholar Awards; and is appreciated for his lectures on tips for succeeding in graduate school. Among the initiatives which he monitors for URI, the Northeast Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (NEAGEP), funded by the National Science Foundation, seeks to increase the number of students, particularly students of color, receiving doctorates and becoming college professors in the sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics. NEAGEP encourages its 10 member campuses, including URI, to develop and implement effective strategies and innovative models for identifying, recruiting, supporting, and retaining students of color. In conjunction with the national Compact for Faculty Diversity, the congressionally authorized New England Board of Higher Education sponsors a Doctoral Scholars Program for underrepresented populations, whose model includes both financial and professional development support; clustering of students within academic departments; and community-building events. Managed by the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s Minority Doctoral Program is comprised of a direct financial support component based on student need; and a feeder component, which connects students in the STEM fields to select faculty and departments that have demonstrated success in helping students earn doctorates. The privately-funded Institute for the Recruitment of Teachers provides guidance, academic support, and application assistance to diverse undergraduates from the humanities, social sciences, education, and mathematics, who plan careers in teaching, counseling, and administration at either the K-12 or university levels.

Faculty Excellence

Dr. Gordon Dash Jr. is being honored for his contributions to the theory, methodology, and application of the emerging field of financial engineering; and his success in advising and inspiring a diverse cadre of international and underrepresented graduate students to the completion of their degrees. A Professor of Business Administration, he and his wife, Nina Kajiji, are known for their meticulous design, testing, and implementation of computer programs to solve mathematical equations that describe real-world processes. Applied to solve problems in biological and chemical engineering as well as educational administration, their programming helps to prepare financial policy-makers to react to ever-evolving global trends in areas, such as portfolio theory, derivatives valuation, and financial risk analysis. The author or co-author of at least 21 articles, book chapters, research reports, and software publications, and formerly the Editor of The Northeast Journal of Business and Economics, and the Associate Editor of The International Review of Financial Analysis, he is also a founding partner of The NKD Group, Inc., which markets financial engineering software. In addition, his own global perspective has been shaped by his international teaching experience in South Africa, Italy, India, Thailand, and the United Kingdom; and his consulting experience with Pfizer, Tyson Foods, the Rhode Island Division of Taxation, and India’s Punjab National Bank. His students are routinely exposed to international cultures. Chair of his Department for 9 years, he helped to support the founding of the Pacific Basin Capital Markets Research Center; initiated the first class in the trading and valuation of global currencies; established research and technology committees; and launched and advised two student-directed committees – the Multicultural Business Administration Club, and the Financial Engineering Club. He is a former recipient of the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching, College of Business Administration.

Dr. Margaret Rogers is being honored for her extensive record of research and publications on multicultural training, cultural competence, and inclusive assessment in psychology. Dr. Rogers is a professor of Psychology; she has authored or co-authored at least 22 articles and book chapters on multicultural psychology. Research grants have enabled her to examine best practices in recruiting and retaining graduate students of color; investigate multicultural training programs in school psychology; study the impact of multiculturalism and gender factors on school-based consultations; and develop the Multicultural School Psychology Counseling Competency Scale as an assessment instrument. In addition, she is a prominent voice for diversity within her profession. She chaired the Task Force on Cross-Cultural Competencies in School Psychology for the American Psychological Association's Division 16, and served on the APA Committee on Ethnic Minority Affairs. She is a current member of the Interdivisional Minority Pipeline Project. She is actively involved with the National Association of School Psychologists' (NASP) Multicultural Affairs Committee, NASP GLBT Committee, and the NASP Social Justice Interest Group. She also serves as an ad-hoc reviewer for the journal Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology. Finally, she has incorporated community service learning components into her classes, monitoring placements for her students at venues such as the George Wiley Center, St. Mary's Food Kitchen, the Jonnycake Center, and the South Kingston Public Schools. As Chair of her Department's Affirmative Action Committee, she secured and implemented a grant to highlight diversity resources, services, and accomplishments on the departmental website; and to create a diversity recruitment brochure. She also formerly served as Multicultural Center Faculty Fellow; a member of the URI Diversity Planning Committee; and Co-Chair of the Psychology Department Multicultural Task Force.

Organization Excellence(Leadership/Excellence)

Latin American Student Association (LASA) is being honored for its long history of campus leadership and activism, its collaboration with other student organizations, and its fulfillment of its Student Senate mandate to educate students about Latino history and culture. Founded in 1980, LASA is URI’s second oldest extant student organization to advocate for the interests of students of color at URI. Generally, students from LASA joined together with students, staff, and faculty from diverse races and backgrounds to provide crucial support to the black student-led protests at URI. When undergraduate student leaders from LASA began to attend graduate school at URI while maintaining their organizational ties as advisers, LASA reached the peak of its campus influence and visibility during the early-to-mid 1990’s. Another important support for LASA were the faculty of the Department of Languages. During the current academic year, LASA organized a Health Care for America Now workshop facilitated by Dr. Dannie Ritchie, Director, Transcultural Community Health Initiative, Brown University, featuring the video documentary, “Unnatural Causes”; worked with URI alum Ivette Luna of Ocean State Action to conduct voter registration; and arranged a presentation on domestic violence. In keeping with its traditional mandate, LASA members scheduled regular dance workshops to teach salsa, merengue, and bachata; presented an art exhibit, “Women, Life, Culture, and Diversity”; screened a Latin American Movie Night Series; and coordinated a “Taste of Latin America” event on traditional cuisine. LASA will wrap up Hispanic Heritage Month with their annual Noche de Gala banquet which also recognizes an outstanding leader of the community.

Uhuru SaSa (“Freedom Now”, Kiswahili language, eastern Africa) is being honored for its long history of campus leadership and activism, as well as its collaboration with other student organizations. It has been a student engine of social change at URI for more than four decades. Originally formed as the Afro-American Society, black students and their allies chose the current name in the early 1970’s. Responding to widespread feelings around New England that campus climates were insensitive, and sometimes hostile, UHURU SaSa acted as a catalyst for student protests at URI in 1971, 1992, and 1998. Out of these protests have come changes that have benefitted the Talent Development Program, the Multicultural Center, the African and African-American Studies Program, and the Affirmative Action Program, among others. During the current academic year, UHURU SaSa collaborated with the URI NAACP to present Race and Politics: Election 2008, a heavily-attended discussion encouraging voter registration and participation in the historic election of President Barack Obama; with the URI Cape Verdean Student Association to welcome the visit of Cape Verde Prime Minister Jose Maria Neves to campus and to honor the late Toney DaMoura; with the URI NSBE chapter to present Real Talk, a discussion about student readiness to enter the professional world; and with URI P.I.N.K. Women and NSBE to fundraise for the Rhode Island Food Bank and the American Diabetes Association.