KINGSTON, R.I. – April 15, 2024 – The late Earl Smith III was honored by students, colleagues, and friends recently with the University of Rhode Island’s first-ever Inclusive Excellence Lifetime Achievement Award. The award was one of 10 presented during the University’s Inclusive Excellence Awards dinner and ceremony honoring members of the URI community who were nominated and selected for demonstrating and promoting inclusion in community leadership, academic excellence, and service at the University.
“Tonight, we celebrate the best and brightest among us, who prioritize inclusivity and equity in everything they do. Each of our awardees has made an indelible impact on the University and our community and we are so lucky that each of them chose URI,” said URI President Marc Parlange.
The Inclusive Excellence Lifetime Achievement Award was accepted by Kevin Smith on behalf of his brother. Before his death in March 2022, Earl Smith served for more than 20 years as the associate dean for the College of Arts and Sciences, where he promoted student engagement, retention, and success by developing and implementing initiatives to support academic advising, career development, and student well-being.
In presenting the award, Parlange acknowledged Smith’s impact, “Earl touched many lives in ways that words cannot fully express, leaving behind a legacy of kindness, wisdom, and compassion that continues to inspire us each day.”
A URI graduate and alumnus of the Talent Development program, Smith began his academic career as a pre-matriculation counselor in the program. As a student and over the course of his career, Smith advocated for the hiring of racially diverse faculty and staff, a diversified curriculum, financial support for students of color and those from disadvantaged backgrounds, and increased support for what are now the Office of Disability, Access, and Inclusion and the Gender and Sexuality Center.
“I hope that members of our community will be as inspired as I am by this year’s honorees,” said Michelle Fontes, assistant vice president for Community, Equity and Diversity, who was the driving force behind this year’s awards ceremony. “Their commitment to making URI a place where everyone feels empowered to work, learn and thrive is something that I hope each of us can learn from and act on in our everyday lives.”
The event, held in the Memorial Union Ballroom, was sponsored by URI’s Office of Community, Equity and Diversity and the Office of the President. The program recognized awardees in nine additional categories. The award recipients were selected from dozens of nominations submitted by peers from across the University. They are:
Staff/Administrative Excellence Award: Jacqui Springer
Jacqui Springer joined the University of Rhode Island in 2014 as a coordinator for what was then Disability Support Services. Now an assistant dean of students for Student Support and Advocacy Services, she strives to incorporate inclusion into her teaching and daily practice. A certified Mental Health First Aid instructor since 2007, Springer also teaches for College Unbound, an adult education program in Providence.
Faculty Excellence in Research Award: Melva Treviño Peña
An assistant professor in the Department of Fisheries, Animal, and Veterinary Sciences, Melva Treviño Peña is a coastal human geographer and an ethnographer. Her broad research interests concern studying how intersecting identities inform people’s perceptions of the environment and their responses to environmental change. Her research examines how and why members from marginalized communities, especially those in the fishing industry, seek shore access to improve their food security and overall well-being. Through this work, she aims to identify new and more equitable policy opportunities that reduce barriers to coastal access and recognizes how self-provisioned fishing contributes to local and regional food security. She is also engaged in several justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives, including serving on the board of directors of the Latinx Geographies Specialty Group of the American Association of Geographers and on the executive board of the New England Faculty of Color Working Group.
Faculty Excellence in Community Award: Amanda Missimer
Amanda Missimer is a clinical assistant professor with a joint appointment in the College of Health Sciences and College of the Environment and Life Sciences. The joint appointment allows her to work on interdisciplinary teams to advance knowledge about food recovery statewide and implement programs to improve food access and address food insecurity on the URI campus. She also teaches several courses, including a grand challenge course on food insecurity as a public health problem. She has also led efforts to blend experiential learning with meaningful community-driven change through Food Recovery for Rhode Island, which has diverted nearly 200,000 pounds of food to Rhode Island communities, and the URI Free Farmers Market, which has helped students and other members of the University community who may be experiencing food insecurity by connecting them with fresh produce grown on URI’s farms.
Faculty Excellence in Inclusive Teaching Award: Hanan Mogawer
An assistant teaching professor in the Department of Chemistry, Hanan Mogawer takes pride in learning from her students. Her humility, openness, and sincere effort to foster inclusivity by lifting and valuing every voice has helped to transform the classroom for her students. Throughout her teaching career, Mogawer developed and created interdisciplinary lessons to engage students and get them excited about their learning experience. Most recently she and two of her colleagues secured a Champlin Foundation grant to establish a cutting-edge laboratory for hundreds of chemistry and engineering students to gain hands-on experience, enhancing their comprehension of some of the principles of chemistry and engineering as well as their sense of belonging.
Undergraduate Student Organization Excellence Award: Brothers On a New Direction
Brothers On a New Direction (B.O.N.D), is a community service-based brotherhood established in 2007 in recognition of the need for unity among diverse young men on campus. B.O.N.D. members pledge to help guide adolescent men of color toward personal and professional growth, provide the tools for academic success, and lead by example. Their work provides mentorship to empower young men and impart them with the knowledge that they hold the key to their future success. The award was accepted by B.O.N.D. president Daryl Mensah.
Undergraduate Student Academic Excellence Award: Megan Hughes
A junior pursuing bachelor’s degrees in marine biology and psychology, Megan Hughes also serves as president of URI’s Student Veterans Organization. With the University enrolling close to 300 military veterans or active-duty military members and nearly 200 military dependents, the Student Veterans Organization works to bring this community together through outreach and philanthropy while ensuring that all student veterans and their families have a welcoming and supportive place on campus.
Undergraduate Student Community Excellence Award: Cristóbal Bustos
Cristóbal Bustos’ is a student filmmaker whose passion is driven by his commitment to shedding light on untold stories. Bustos was inspired to take up filmmaking in 2018 when his late father gifted him his first camera. By August 2023, he had officially established CAPS Studios as its founder and executive producer. A Talent Development scholar and a member of B.O.N.D., Bustos has released two documentary films detailing the pursuit of social justice on the University of Rhode Island campus through two student organizations, the Black Student Leadership Group and Brothers United for Action. By bringing their stories to light, his advocacy has educated students on the power of their own voice.
Graduate Student Academic Excellence Award: Priscilla Peña
As a doctoral candidate in marketing, Priscilla Peña’s scholarly focus is on diversity, equity, and inclusion—specifically examining the potential harms of inauthentic brand activism on individuals’ identity and coping mechanisms, along with developing recovery strategies for brands accused of “woke-washing.” Known for her innovative teaching methods, Peña has been acknowledged for her impact in the classroom. A published researcher, she will join the faculty at University of St. Thomas, Minnesota, as an assistant professor starting fall 2024.
Graduate Student Community Excellence Awards: Satya Sullivan and Lauren Zane
Satya Sullivan is a graduate student in the Department of Marine Affairs and is currently producing a documentary about the seafood network of Rhode Island for her final project. In her career, she focuses on the reimagination of filmmaking protocols, specifically when working with BIPOC communities.
Lauren Zane, a doctoral student in the College of the Environment and Life Sciences, has been an advocate for marginalized voices in STEM. She has led diversity and inclusion badge program workshops as a facilitator as well as participated in CELS’ VOICES (Voices of Inclusion in Communities of Education and Science).
Together Sullivan and Zane are the co-founders of the non-profit Colorful Lineup, an organization serving women-of-color surfers through online discussion, free surfing clinics, and gear redistribution.
To learn more about the Inclusive Excellence Awards and this year’s honorees, visit URI’s Office of Community, Equity and Diversity.