Utah State Speaks About Equal Opportunity

Utah State Speaks About Equal Opportunity

Dr. William B. Harvey, administrator and equal opportunity scholar, will be the keynote speaker for Utah State University’s 10th Annual University Diversity Awards, on Tuesday, Dec. 2, from 9-10:30 a.m. in the Eccles Conference Center Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.

Following Harvey’s speech on “Democracy, Diversity and Demography,” President Kermit L. Hall will present the 2003 University Awards to Stan Albrecht, Nick Eastmond, Janet Osborne, Tiffany Leo and Barbara Shidler. All recipients are recognized individuals on campus or in the Cache Valley community who have made significant contributions to affirmative action, equal opportunity and diversity.

Harvey, the keynote speaker, is the director of the Office of Minorities in Higher Education at the American Council on Education and has held dean, chancellor and professor positions at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He has also held faculty and administrative positions at North Carolina State University, The State University of New York at Stony Brook and others.

“Dr. Harvey is a nationally recognized expert on issues concerning minorities in higher education,” said Sue Guenter-Schlesinger, director of affirmative action and equal opportunity at Utah State. “His is one of the important voices on the cultural and social factors that affect underserved populations.

Harvey recently shared the podium with President Hall at the “National Forum on Affirmative Action in Higher Education” at Harvard University.

He serves on the advisory boards of the Study of New Scholars Project at Harvard University, the Yale-Howard Partnership Center on Reducing Health Disparities, the Project Site Support at Johns Hopkins University and the board of visitors of the School of Education at the University of Pittsburgh. He has also chaired the Higher Education Committee for Equity.

The Diversity Award recipients were nominated for the awards because they have furthered the principles and values of affirmative action, equal opportunity and diversity. One individual was chosen from each of five different categories including administrator, faculty, staff, student and community member.

Albrecht will be honored in the category of administrator. He is the executive vice president and provost at Utah State. Albrecht promoted two women as deans of colleges and also promoted women to positions such as assistant provost. He also established funding to increase diversity and assist in the hiring of minority faculty.

“Provost Albrecht has been a proactive advocate of diversity at the university,” said a nominator. “He devotes tremendous time and energy to creating diversity strategies that make an impact.

Eastmond, professor of instructional technology, will be honored in the category of faculty. For 18 years, Eastmond has hosted instructional technology's International Night to recognize students in the department. He has taught classes dealing with race, communication and cultural issues. He also received the Utah State International Council's Professor of the Year award, raised money to build a school in South Africa and serves as the faculty advisor to the African Students Association.

Osborne, director of the Utah State Women's and Re-Entry Student Center, will receive the award in the staff category. Osborne teaches sociology of gender classes and initiated the Women's Leadership Institute.

“People feel accepted by Janet for who they are as human beings,” said a nominator. “She has mentored hundreds of women from many walks of life during her 24 years at Utah State. She is able to work productively with differences of culture, race, gender and religion.

Leo, Associated Students of Utah State University diversity vice president, is the award winner in the category of student. Some of her efforts include sponsoring the Pride Alliance Film Festival, advocating that STAB movies be shown closed captioned and lobbying for funding for the Native American Pow-wow and Polynesian Student Union Luau.

Shidler, City of Hyrum's Strength and Diversity committee chair, will receive the community member award. Shidler arranges for interpreters for parents of Hispanic children to attend parent teacher conferences. She developed the international food festival and has been supportive of grants to provide computer technology to assist the Hispanic population in learning English.

Story by Tracey Fox, taf@cc.usu.edu