Utah State University Presents Diversity Awards

The recipients of the 21st Annual Utah State University Diversity Awards have been named. The recipients for the 2014 school year are Jeannie Thomas, Bonnie Glass-Coffin, Ben Wilkey, Ayman Alaffi and Sally Sears. The awards recognize individuals and/or organizations on campus and in communities served by USU who have made significant contributions to affirmative action, equal opportunity and diversity.

Administrator

Jeannie Thomas serves as the department head of English in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and has been instrumental in making academia more inclusive and inviting for minorities and women, as well as graduate students in the department.

Thomas has allowed work schedules and flexible time to accommodate family needs for faculty women who are adjusting to life with a new baby as well as others in the department who may need a more flexible schedule during a family crisis. The English Department has been a role model department of USU’s commitment to diversity.

Thomas also instituted a departmental “read and feed” event that highlights recently published works of all those who work in the English department. This gives opportunity for graduate students, instructors and lecturers to share their publications which may not have been widely known in the department. In particular, this has increased the visibility of minorities and their publications.

As the founder of the “Native Voice” project, Thomas hired a visiting professor, Grant Bulltail, a Crow tribal elder. He taught undergraduate classes about native knowledge. Historically, Native Americans have less access to colleges and universities. Having professor Bulltail on campus enabled the students to learn about traditional native knowledge.

Faculty

Bonnie Glass-Coffin is a professor of anthropology as well as the anthropology program director in the Department of Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at USU. She has been praised for her openness and understanding of diversity towards students, staff, administrators and the public. In her classes she encourages students to “step outside their comfort zones” to better understand people in their similarities as well as differences.

Glass-Coffin created the USU Interfaith Initiative in 2014 to bring a positive and meaningful interaction among people who may approach religion in a unique or different manner. She was also involved in raising money to bring Eboo Patel, a member of President Barack Obama’s Interfaith Youth Council, to campus for the first Interfaith Initiative event.

Glass-Coffin teaches a class on Shamanism for the Religious Studies and Anthropology programs and has taken students on field trips to Peru where they are able to experience Shamans first hand in the communities in which they live.

In her anthropology classes she teaches appreciation of cultural differences and challenges her students to think about their beliefs and look inward and discover their feelings. She encourages them to learn from one another and share their thoughts and begin to accept the differences that mold the culture, society and world.

Staff

Ben Wilkey loves developing international friendships wherever opportunities arise. He served a LDS church mission in Canada for two years. Later he went to Korea for 18 months to teach English. Wilkey has served as a recruitment specialist as well as an international recruiter in the Admissions office and worked in the Study Abroad office as a coordinator for the 2014 Summer Global Academy, a two month cultural and English immersion program at Utah State University.

While working in the Summer Global Academy program he brought a “unique vision of global family, unity and community engagement” to the program. His staff grasped his vision and embraced this concept of the “global family.” His leadership, love and respect for all set the stage for the remarkable summer program last year.

Another highlight of the Global Academy 2014 program was the connection Wilkey facilitated with members from the LDS church to carpool all 167 international students to the beautiful Logan Canyon where an activity was planned involving nearly 500 domestic USU students. The atmosphere of comradery and acceptance was embraced by everyone kindling new friendships and greater cultural awareness.

“Ben has a special affinity for global engagement and a unique charisma that draws people from all backgrounds to him,” his nominator wrote. “He sincerely values people and demonstrates this through his small and simple acts of kindness.”

Student

Ayman Alafifi is a doctoral student in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at Utah State University and currently works as a research assistant in the Water Research Laboratory. He is also the vice president of the USU Muslim Student Association and the director of the Logan Islamic Center (LIC).

Alafifi grew up among hardships and political instability in Gaza Strip-Palestine and became motivated in his youth to volunteer in the nonprofit community development programs oriented toward women and children. Paraphrasing his wife and nominator, “he is passionate towards promoting diversity and strives to achieve justice in this world.”

Since arriving at USU, Alafifi has been actively engaged in activities and groups on campus and in the community. His involvement includes being the design lead for Engineers Without Borders and receiving the USU Sustainability Council’s “Blue Goes Green” grant. He has also participated in the C. Arden Pope Northern Utah “Clean the Air” contest and received an award. He is a member of Taking IT Global Virtual Community and a translator for TEDx videos.

He has been an inclusive director of the Logan Islamic Center bringing about 200 members from more than 35 countries, different sects and schools of thought. He has helped organize open house events to better educate the community about the Muslim religion and culture as a peaceful message. On and off campus he has led and participated in several interfaith panel discussions.

Alafifi worked with the Office of Research and Graduate Studies for international student recruitment by supplying brochures to potential students in Baghdad, Iraq. These brochures reaffirmed to the students that they would be accepted in the USU and Cache Valley communities.

Community Member

Sally Sears and her late husband, Randy Wirth, founded Caffe Ibis in 1976 as a family-owned and operated award-winning “Green Business.” They have consistently contributed to our local and global communities and have won a plethora of awards for environmental stewardship and philanthropy.

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert visited the Ibis Coffee Roasting Plant in the summer of 2014 and honored Sears and Wirth for eliminating 95 percent of emissions from their coffee roasting plant. Efforts to improve the valley’s air quality show their commitment to our local environment.

Their commitment to community is exemplified by their products, which are fair trade, environmentally friendly and often support women-owned small businesses. Their Café Femenino is produced by a group of female coffee growers, formed to combat abuse and marginalization of rural Peruvian women. Sale proceeds provide school uniforms and scholarships for the children of these marginalized women.

“In raising up the women, you’re raising up the whole village,” Sears said in a Liberalis magazine article.

Sears has provided support to organizations that include Children’s Justice Center, Planned Parenthood, Four Paws Rescue, Stokes Nature Center, Helicon West and the Cache Chamber Music Society, to name a few. She serves as a mentor to many USU students who are Caffe Ibis employees.

The logo “Celebrate Diversity,” on Caffe Ibis merchandise, exemplifies Sears’ commitment to community and inclusion.

Contact: Stacy Sturgeon, 435-797-1266, Stacy.sturgeon@usu.edu