Five faculty members who have contributed to the development of a culturally and ethnically diverse campus community have been presented with the Harold R. Johnson Diversity Service Award by the Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs.
The 2008 recipients are: Paula Allen-Meares, dean and professor in the School of Social Work; Maria Cotera, assistant professor of Latina/o studies and women’s studies, LSA; Matthew Countryman, associate professor of history and American studies, LSA; Carla O’Connor, associate professor, School of Education; and Bradford Orr, director of the applied physics program and professor of physics, LSA.
The award was established in 1996 in honor of Johnson, dean emeritus of the School of Social Work (SSW). Honorees receive $5,000 to further their personal research, teaching and scholarship activities.
Allen-Meares’ dedication and action on behalf of affirmative action was recognized in 2000 by the University’s Women of Color Task Force when they awarded her the Woman of the Year Leadership Award. She was recognized in 2006 as OUTstanding Ally of the Year Award by the Transgender Bisexual Lesbian Gay community. The awards are symbolic of her commitment and dedication to addressing issues of diversity and social justice. “Within the school, Dean Allen-Meares has consistently tried to create search committees intended to both reflect and enhance the diversity in the school; to create an environment which has produced a model MSW (Master of Social Work) curriculum with the central theme of social justice; and to develop and sustain strong support systems for students of color and international students,” wrote Siri Jayaratne, SSW associate dean, in a nominating letter.
Cotera has twice received the Latino Faculty/Staff Recognition Award, in 2003 and 2006. Since 2004 she has spearheaded an intensive curriculum revision inside Latina/o studies to improve interdisciplinary collaboration and engage students through direct exposure to the realities and challenges that face Latinas/os today. A key component involves a series of visits to community locations in southwest Detroit, where students get the opportunity to make community service learning part of their assignments for credit. “Maria is absolutely and without a doubt one of the most actively involved faculty members that I have ever met … she is by far the faculty member most involved in mentoring undergraduate and graduate students, not only academically but also through her very visible participation in students’ extracurricular activities,” wrote Lawrence La Fountain-Stokes, assistant professor of Latina/o studies, in support of Cotera’s nomination.
Countryman’s concern with challenging patterns of discrimination and fostering a multiracial culture can be traced to his days as an undergraduate at Yale, his graduate work at Duke and years spent as a community activist and campaigner for social justice. At U-M he has encouraged both the history department and the American culture program to admit graduate students from diverse backgrounds, and has spent hours mentoring many of them upon their arrival. “His current work on African-American mayors in the late 20th century is likely to extend his already high visibility as a careful, exacting and committed scholar. Professor Countryman is a truly interdisciplinary scholar whose work speaks to and across multiple fields: sociology, political science and ethnic studies, as well as the more particular histories. … His contributions to the teaching and service missions of the college have been substantial, and he is an important leader in history and AC (American culture), particularly when it comes to taking responsibility for large and difficult courses and for making connections both across and outside the University community,” wrote Gregory Dowd, director of the Program in American Culture, in a nomination letter.
O’Connor’s research on resiliency among low-income and black students has made her a highly sought-after contributor to scholarly discussion of the role of education in social justice. One of the School of Education’s most sought-after advisors, she was presented in 2000 with a Faculty Career Development Award. “Carla O’Connor is a leader on our faculty for collective work on curriculum redesign, program development, faculty deliberations about policy and the school’s engagement with our student body,” wrote Deborah Loewenberg Ball, dean of the School of Education, and Elizabeth Birr Moje, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Literacy, Language, and Culture in Educational Studies and faculty associate in the Institute for Social Research and in Latino/a Studies. “In everything she does, Carla helps those around her understand how our decisions and actions shape how diversity and equity figure in the culture of our organization and interactions, and affect the experiences of those with whom we work and communicate.”
Orr is credited with providing the leadership and commitment to fairness that has helped make it possible for the Applied Physics Program to succeed in striving for diversity and excellence simultaneously. Orr has put in place processes to encourage success, including a program in which all first and second-year students are given common space in one large room to build a sense of community, and weekly pizza seminars where senior graduate students and professors make presentations. Orr reviews midterm grades for all first-year students and provides an opportunity for them to receive tutoring from more senior graduate students. “I have witnessed Brad pull talented graduate students out of dysfunctional situations and place them in applied physics where they blossomed,” wrote Alec Gallimore, associate dean of the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies, in his letter nominating Orr. “Even in cases where I felt the student had run through all available options, Brad was willing and able to convince me otherwise and take action to have the student succeed.”
