ODC presents Affirmative Action and Diversity Initiatives Awards, celebrates silver anniversary

by Jessica Howard
Several members of the Vanderbilt community were recognized for their efforts to promote campus inclusiveness and diversity during the Opportunity Development Center’s Affirmative Action and Diversity Initiatives Awards Oct. 15. The ODC — the University’s equal opportunity, affirmative action and disability services office — also celebrated its 25th anniversary during the ceremony in Branscomb South Dining Hall.

For the past 16 years, awards have been given to programs and individuals at Vanderbilt that best represent the ODC’s core values of diversity, equity, accessibility and tolerance.

“I take great pride in the fact that our institution continually strives to diversify its workforce,” Chancellor Gordon Gee told the audience of about 100. “I especially enjoy that we take the time to recognize and celebrate special efforts that contribute to this important endeavor — because that recognition encourages more of the same good effort, year after year.”

The ODC, created in 1977 and currently directed by Patricia Pierce, works to continuously develop, implement, evaluate and revise as necessary action-oriented programs aimed at promoting and valuing diversity in the University's faculty, staff and student body.

“The awards program honors people who have made a difference and the difference they make helps Vanderbilt be a better place, ” Pierce said.

The 2002 Affirmative Action and Diversity Initiatives Award recipients are:Brenda Gilmore, director of University mail services, has one of the most racially diverse staffs on campus, according to the ODC. Gilmore, who has served at Vanderbilt for 15 years, has been a sponsor and mentor to INROADS. The national career development organization prepares college-bound minority youth for professional careers in business and industry. She has served as an advisor to the Delta Sigma Theta sorority, as well as working in a variety of other capacities at Vanderbilt. The ODC credits Gilmore, who represents District One in the Metro Council, as helping her diverse district “find some common ground.”

Susan Montgomery, community outreach coordinator for the Vanderbilt HIV Vaccine Program, has worked to increase the program’s visibility within Nashville’s minority populations, as well as their participation in vaccine studies. Montgomery has volunteered at several minority organizations and was heavily involved in the 2002 HIV Vaccine Awareness Day.

Lucius Outlaw, professor of philosophy and director of African-American Studies, has been an advocate for a number of initiatives to make Vanderbilt a more open and representative community. He has chaired the Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Series Committee, served on the advisory board for the Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center and on the Provost’s Committee on the Recruitment and Retention of Minority Faculty. He currently is serving on the Chancellor’s Task Force on Diversity.

Julie Jinwon Park, a junior and Chancellor’s Scholar, is a civil rights activist who spent the summer at a fellowship in Washington, D.C. as part of the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University. Co-president of the Asian American Student association in 2001-02, she helped organize the “Hate: Not in My Community” campaign as a response to racist graffiti found on campus. She is currently working with issues such as Asian American student recruitment.

Three campus programs were also recognized for their efforts:
Explorers Unlimited, created by the John F. Kennedy Center and the Down Syndrome Association of Middle Tennessee, held its inaugural camp the summer of 2002. This summer, the camp — one of the first of its kind in the nation — hosted 12 campers aged 12-22 years old. Susan Eaton, research associate in special education, served as the camp director, and doctoral student Kathy Karns served as the academic director.

Women’s Faculty Organization, a program aimed at recruitment and retention of women faculty, “provides a collective voice for women’s concerns and needs,” according to the ODC. The organization is credited with advocating for the adoption of the University’s new parental leave policy.

Women’s Social Policy and Research Center was established under the guidance of Ronnie Steinberg, chair of the women’s studies program, in 2001 to examine and analyze the economic status of women in Tennessee and surrounding states. The economic independence of women, the impact of policy reform, education equity, and work and family are the center’s four primary concerns. Research findings are published and presented to academic and community forums, in an effort to influence state policy.

Certificates of recognition were given to Samar Ali, president of the Student Government Association; Alfredo Artiles, associate professor of education; Theresa Bills, coordinator of the vendor diversity program; Lynn Cradick, digital media specialist in Creative Services; the Department of History; and Arrion Richardson, Roberto Blanco and Bruce Jacobs, officers of the Vanderbilt chapter of the Student National Medical Association.

Posted 10/16/02 at 10:00 a.m