Utah State University Announces Diversity Award Recipients

Utah State University Announces Diversity Award Recipients

Winners of the 10th Annual Utah State University Diversity Awards have been announced. Honorees are recognized for their commitment and achievements in promoting diversity at Utah State University.

Stan Albrecht, Nicholas Eastmond, Janet Osborne, Tiffany Leo and Barbara Shidler are the 2003 recipients of the honor, which recognizes individuals on campus and in the Cache Valley community who have made significant contributions to affirmative action, equal opportunity and diversity.

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. "Albrecht devotes tremendous time and energy to creating diversity strategies that make an impact."
 

Nicholas 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 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. 
 

Janet 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."
 

Tiffany 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.

Barbara 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.

The winners will be recognized by Utah State President Kermit L. Hall at a ceremony in the fall.

Contact: Sue Guenter-Schlesinger, (435) 797-1266
Writer: Whitney Wilkinson, (435) 797-1429