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Diversity Award Recipients Lauded for Outstanding Contributions to Campus
Ioana Patringenaru | February 20, 2007
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James Burns Jr. |
Click here to learn more about this year's
diversity awards recipients.
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James Burns Jr. grew up in Los Angeles’ projects and witnessed the 1965 Watts race riots first hand and close up. Later, he joined the Marine Corps. Now a business manager in Housing and Dining Services at UCSD, Burns mentors black and Hispanic youth, encouraging them to earn money by doing constructive work, including working at UCSD. Burns also is a member of the Black Staff Association and is helping organize an event for this year’s Black History Month celebrations.
Burns is among the 23 individuals and 13 units and departments recognized last week for their contributions to diversity at UCSD during the 12th annual UCSD Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action and Diversity Awards ceremony. A review committee comprised of representatives from each vice chancellor area evaluated nominations and recommended recipients for approval by Chancellor Marye Anne Fox.
“We as a community are deeply committed to diversity,” Fox told hundreds of UCSD employees who attended Wednesday’s awards ceremony. “By sharing our ideas, our resources and our experiences, we can become a stronger and better community.”
Many organizations work to promote diversity at UCSD, Fox pointed out, including the Cross-Cultural Center, the LGBT Resource Center and the Women’s Center.
Wednesday, the Infant Special Care Center, also known as the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, received a campuswide award for its efforts. The center serves newborns with a wide range of medical problems. In all, 55 percent of the unit’s families speak Spanish. Since Spanish interpreters are hard to come by at the UCSD Medical Center in Hillcrest, the unit paid for eight nurses and secretaries to learn the language at UCSD Extension. They now can answer questions and help discharge babies. The unit also has brought extended families to classes where they learn how to care for their babies.
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Chancellor Marye Anne Fox with diversity awards recipients. |
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Meanwhile, the student affairs and admissions unit of the Office of Graduate Studies was recognized by the academic affairs vice chancellor area. The unit set up creative outreach programs to increase the diversity of the campus’ student body, said Associate Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs David Miller. For example, the unit recruited at least one diversity coordinator from every graduate program and department. It also recruited current students, postdoctoral fellows, staff and faculty to visit institutions with large enrollments of underrepresented undergraduates and to make presentations at national conferences and graduate fairs. As a result, the number of minority graduate students went up by more than 34 percent over the past five years. In the past year alone, underrepresented minority enrollments have increased by more that 12 percent, Miller said.
Wednesday’s award ceremony also showed that many individuals are working to promote diversity on campus. Burns, a campuswide award recipient, is one of them. After his childhood in Watts and his stint in the Marines, his life took an unexpected turn when he met Dr. Richard Peters, from the UCSD Medical Center. Peters became his mentor and Burns took various jobs at UCSD, starting in 1971 and working his way up to an MSO position in Veterinary Services. He received a campuswide employee of the year award in 1986. He also received his bachelor’s degree. Burns left UCSD for a decade before returning in 2001. He now is a business manager for the maintenance team in Housing and Dining Services. Before that, he served as the business manager at the Birch Aquarium.
Burns said he was thrilled, but also a little reluctant to receive the award. "It's just so odd to get an award for something that I do naturally," he explained.
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Joyce Felder |
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Meanwhile, Joyce Felder, the executive director of the Admissions and Student Affairs Office at the School of Medicine, received an award from David Brenner, the new vice chancellor of health sciences. She effectively manages a diverse staff and interacts with the very diverse student body at the School of Medicine, Brenner said. In fact, Felder made such a lasting impression on students that last year’s graduating class created a $1000 scholarship to honor her, he said. The Joyce Felder Scholarship recognized a second-year medical student who displayed tenacity in the face of adversity, who helped foster an environment of camaraderie among their class and who was committed to helping their peers. Students worked hard to raise the money, Brenner said. He affectionately called Felder a “mother hen” during the awards ceremony, before they exchanged a hug.
“What we have seen today is what an organizational commitment to diversity can do,” said Thomas Leet, assistant vice chancellor of human resources, at the end of Wednesday’s ceremony. “Diversity is not only the right thing to do; it’s the smart thing to do.”
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