MSU recognizes community members’ efforts, innovations

By Kristin K. Anderson

MSU recognized students, faculty and staff for their innovative efforts in promoting diversity at the annual Excellence in Diversity Recognition and Awards program on March 12.
“MSU’s expression of commitment to diversity and inclusion is exemplified by the extraordinary efforts of the 2008 recipients of the Excellence in Diversity awards,” said Paulette Granberry Russell, director of the Office for Inclusion and Intercultural Initiatives and senior adviser to the president for diversity.
“There are recipients whose emerging efforts represent the future for inclusion on our campus. There are others who have been a part of the MSU community and have sustained their efforts to create, enhance and support diversity over the course of their careers,” she said. “And this year, for the first time, we are presenting two Lifetime Achievement awards recognizing individuals for their commitment to promoting diversity and inclusiveness on campus and throughout the state and nation over the course of their personal careers.”
Individual and team recipients received a cash award of $2,500.

Kaustav Mukerjee, a doctoral student in English in the College of Arts and Letters, received an Excellence in Diversity award. As president of the International Students Association, he leads many programs and projects aimed at increasing the visibility of and representing the voice of international students.
He helps connect student cultural groups and is a driving force behind such projects as international student orientation and the 2007 Global Festival. He has been a panelist for numerous intercultural communication workshops to sensitize employees on the challenges of communicating across cultures. A member of the Community Volunteers for International Programs Speaker’s Bureau, he shares his Indian culture with local school classes and community groups.

Esther Onaga, associate professor in the Department of Family and Child Ecology in the College of Social Science, received a Sustained Effort toward Excellence in Diversity award. Through her teaching, research and outreach, she works toward a just society for those in need of advocacy, including special needs children, adults with limited disabilities and ethnically diverse individuals and their families.
She takes part in innovative programs and policy forums for state legislators and public audiences to encourage change and educate others on creating a more caring environment. She has worked with local schools and state and national agencies to help MSU students and the clients they work with become active participants in their communities.

George Cornell, director of the Native American Institute in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, professor of history in the College of Social Science and professor in interdepartmental studies in the College of Arts and Letters, is an advocate for American Indians, especially the native peoples of Michigan. He received a Lifetime Achievement award.
He has advanced understanding of ways American Indians historically have related to land and natural resources. He collaborates with local, state and federal agencies on a wide range of issues, provides technical assistance to tribal environmental authorities to help with planning and policy development, and is a proponent of the arts and humanities as a method of raising cultural awareness of and appreciation for American Indians’ cultures.
Cornell was a co-founder of the American Indian Studies program and established MSU’s Native American Institute, which provides training and technical assistance to Michigan’s American Indian groups and advises lawmakers on policies regarding American Indians. He helped establish the Nokomis Learning Center in Okemos.

Mary Lee Davis, professor of higher, adult and lifelong education in the College of Education, received a Lifetime Achievement award. She has spent decades helping women and minorities break their own ground, both in academics and in their communities.
Davis has shared the MSU story and messages of diversity and inclusion with the Michigan Legislature, alumni associations, chambers of commerce and other organizations at local and national levels. A career educator, she is committed to sharing the teaching and service message with her students as well.
Her posts at MSU have included executive assistant to the president and secretary of the Board of Trustees, associate vice president for public service and community affairs and associate vice president for governmental affairs.
She has served as president of numerous community boards, including the Girl Scouts of Michigan Capital Council, and as chairperson of the Sparrow Hospital board of directors. She currently is on the Michigan American Council of Education executive board and is the faculty adviser for the MSU Council of Graduate Students.

Students Making a Difference through Artistic Expression awards

Four students received Students Making a Difference through Artistic Expression awards: Ashton Moore, a master’s jazz studies student; Thomas Sklut, a senior music major; Yuanliang Sun, a master’s student in studio art; and Cedric Tai, a teacher certification intern year student. Winners of the 2008 Multicultural Heroes Fall of Fame and the 2008 International Student Essay Contest also were recognized.

The Spartan Child Development Center and director Rosene Johnson received an Excellent Progress Toward Advancing Diversity award. The center was recognized for its commitment to diversity and pluralism in all aspects of its programming, including hiring and staff training, curriculum, the food program, interactions between parents and staff members, and providing for accommodations for children with special needs. Diversity is woven into the daily activities of the center, from pretend play clothing from India, to writing in Spanish or Chinese, to reading books in French and English. The center also holds an International Night Diversity festival where families, children and staff come together to celebrate the cultural heritages of the some 60 countries represented by participating families.

The African Atlantic Research Team and director Jualynne Dodson, professor of sociology in the College of Social Science, received a Sustained Effort Toward Excellence in Diversity award. The team’s mission is to ensure African American students, other racial ethnic students and those engaged in studies of people of African descent will have the needed specialized mentoring, advising and career information to become strong graduate students in programs that lead to achieving a doctorate. The team, a mentoring collective and research group made up of faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, and community members, strives to help increase the number of
American Indians, Chicanos and Latinos, African Americans and Asian Americans who have successful academic careers.

The Knight Center for Environmental Journalism, College of Communications Arts and Sciences, and director Jim Detjen, Knight Professor and Knight Chair in Journalism, received an Excellent Progress Toward Diversity Collaboration award. Center staff members have held workshops for Detroit high school students on health, environment and science reporting. The center offers scholarships and assistantships to minority students at MSU to help them further their education at national journalism conferences, allowing for a greater perspective in many environmental stories. It partners with national media associations and other organizations to help make students aware of the importance of environmental journalism and introduce them to job opportunities in the field.