Darin Adams
An Iraq War veteran, Darin came to the University of Northern Iowa to study
criminology just last year. In 2011, he served on the Veteran Student Services
Committee where he worked on initiatives to institute a Veteran’s Center here on
campus as well as doing much of the legwork to found and fund the “Boots to Books”
scholarship – which offers $1,000 scholarship to incoming veteran students. He also
helped organize a screening of “The Invisible War” – bringing the issue of rape in the
armed forces to the attention of over 150 attendees at that event.
As an ally to the LGBTQ community at UNI, he has worked diligently to educate
himself on issues critical to that community and helped UNI become one of the first
schools to host a “NOH8 at My School” event. NOH8 functions as a silent campaign to
raise awareness about marriage and gender equality and equal rights for all. Close to
500 UNI students and community members attended this event to openly support the
LGBTQ community at UNI
Celeste Bembry
Celeste Bembry is a familiar face around campus who has worked to provide a
welcoming and supportive environment for all of our students. Her nominator used
these words to describe her: Positive. Collaborator. Creative. Team-Player. Can-Do
Attitude. Enthusiasm.
For several years, Celeste has been a member of the Multicultural Recruitment
Team which has now morphed into the Outreach Team. She contributes ideas, freely
offers feedback, and always steps forward to deliver the actions. Each year she has
organized a presentation representing her college – Humanities, Arts and Sciences –
for the “I’ll Make Me a World in Iowa” celebration of African American culture. She has
staffed the UNI booth at CelebrAsian, the Asian culture celebration sponsored by the
Iowa Human Rights Commission, uses her passion for music as an entire to visit and
recruit high schoolers across the nation.
From working one-on-one to support a student who wears a full burqa, to
speaking to students groups to honor their achievements, this woman demonstrates a
high regard for diversity.
Xavier Escandell
A tenured faculty member in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and
Criminology, Xavier has offered classes in international migration and transnationalism,
embedding the topics of race/ethnic inequality and social stratification.
But his desire to desire to promote diversity is not confined simply to
classroom lectures to students. On top of mentoring and advising numerous students,
he has given public presentations on immigration and diversity issues around the
country at various venues. He serves as the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences’
representative to the Diversity Advisory Committee. He served as a panelist for the
2007 and 2009 I.D.E.A. Diversity Summits. He also has served as a representative for
CSBS on the Global Studies Committee and as a panelist for an Immigration and
Diversity Panel promoted by the Center for Multicultural Education.
At the regional level, Xavier serves as a member and has been selected as the
incoming chair of the Midwest Sociological Society’s Social Action Committee. On our
campus, he is an active member of the National Coalition Building Institute, conducting
workshops on diversity for our community.
Darvel Givens
This recipient of the Diversity Matters Award came through UNI’s Jump Start
program in 2009 and has been intent on promoting an inclusive campus ever since.
A vocal proponent of diversity efforts across the board, Darvel also is an
outspoken campus leader for issues direct related to multicultural students, and an ally
for other traditionally marginalized groups such as women and members of the LGBT
community.
He has lobbied the Division of Student Affairs to allocate specific funding for
student diversity celebrations. He also advocated for health education within the
multicultural community, bringing awareness to breast cancer issues, HIV/AIDS,
domestic violence and STDs – all of which affect the multicultural community
disproportionately.
Darvel served as President of the Black Student Union for the past two years
and, under his leadership, the group as created important dialogue on campus about
diversity and campus unity. Often reaching out to other student organizations, he has
shown that through collaboration and togetherness, we achieve so much more than we
do alone.
Cindi Mason
Cindi Mason’s greatest strength is, according to her nominator, her ability to form
collaborative relationship with the organizations and families she interacts with in
Waterloo.
This outstanding Instructor in the School of Music also serves as the Director of
the UNI Community Music School, and has created an exemplary curriculum that
incorporates diversity values at UNI and beyond. Through the CMS, Cindi has mentored
and facilitated the progress of underrepresented students and community musicians,
promoting an environment free of bias and discrimination. CMS will provide private
summer lessons for underserved youths in the Waterloo schools who want to participate
in the Waterloo Band Program in fall 2013. Her efforts have involved numerous UNI
students, staff members and local citizens, doing what her nominator said she does
best – collaborate.
She also has actively raised funds for the CMS, garnering more than $150,000 in
scholarship awards and outreach program support.
Melissa Payne
This staff member has committed significant time, dedication, and care to the
task of enhancing diversity in The University of Northern Iowa community.
Melissa’s vision for LBGT outreach in the Dean of Students Office is centered
around her commitment to establishing relationships of trust. She has provided
leadership in creating a graduate assistantship in LGBT outreach, building institutional
support for addressing the needs and concerns of the LGBT community, growing the
Safe Zone Ally program, and establishing space for a LGBT center on campus. Her
advocacy has led to enhanced programming such as the Rainbow Reception during
Welcome Week, an open house for LGBT students and their families during Family
Weekend, and financial support for UNI students to attend professional development
conferences focused on LGBT issues in higher education.
Through her work with JumpStart, an orientation program for underrepresented
students at UNI, she has successfully facilitated conversations about race, class, and
identity development.
Most recently, she joined the UNI Campus Coalition Builders (CCB), a steering
committee charged with taking the National Coalition Building Institute efforts campus
wide.
Jim Schuerman
This community member’s interaction with both international and domestic UNI students
has been creating supportive environment for years now.
Jim often is the first American our international students get to interact with outside of
the University, and he makes all of them feel welcome. At the beginning of their tenure at UNI,
international students may feel lonely, confused, shy, and homesick. This community member
reaches out to as many of these students as possible, helping to provide them basic necessities
(such linens and dishes) , inviting them to Sunday brunches at local restaurants and holiday
dinners at his home, showing them around the Cedar Valley, providing transportation to their
destinations, and inviting them to UNI athletic and cultural events.
Additionally, Jim occasionally hosts and entertains visiting international faculty members.
For domestic students, he provides financial and moral support for them to travel abroad
to study and conduct research.
Being an owner of the auto repair shop, he naturally advises them on purchasing their
first vehicle and everything that comes with it – driver’s education, insurance information, auto
maintenance, among others.
As his nominator writes, he “indisputably demonstrates achievements in
recruiting and retaining diverse groups of students.”
Robert L. Smith, Jr.
The final recipient of the Diversity Matters Award for 2013 is a UNI staff member
with more than two decades of service to the institution, all of them with the UNI
Center for Urban Education (UNICUE).
However, Robert’s service and dedication to diversity go far beyond UNICUE. A
long-time proponent of financial literacy within underrepresented communities, he has
volunteered to teach economics courses for the UNI Classic Upward Bound Summer
Program for more than 15 years, moving moves students from mere consumers to
investors/producers. As one of his students wrote in the nomination documents, “I will
remember what you said. I will invest and I will become wealthy.”
Robert also has conducted money-management workshops for UNI JumpStart
students, served as a certified instructor for HIV/AIDS Education, and founded a local
alliance that provides winter boots to needy children. Under his leadership, UNICUE
became a sponsor for an annual distribution of school supplies to the needy.
He has served on numerous boards and committees that include the Wartburg
College Board of Regents, the Allen Hospital Community Outreach Advisory Board, and
the Community National Bank of Waterloo Board of Directors. In all cases, he has used
his position to speak boldly for and about the needs of underrepresented community
members.