University Will Celebrate Champions of Diversity at 10th Annual Ceremony

The University of Texas at Dallas will host its 10th annual Diversity Awards Ceremony and Soiree Thursday, April 18, in honor of faculty, staff, students and community partners who work to make UT Dallas an inclusive and welcoming campus.

The event, which is free and open to the public, will be from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center.

This year’s celebration will feature performances by the Dallas Black Dance Theatre, the My Possibilities Choir, the Texas Instruments Jazz Band, Bangladesh Student Organization dancers, African Student Union dancers, Mariachi Michoacan and the winner of the Diversity Storytelling Competition, as well as food from around the world.

Alireza Nourani-Dargiri, president of the Student Diversity Advisory Council, and Ayesha Ahmad, vice president of the council, will serve as masters of ceremonies.

The Office of Diversity and Community Engagement hosted the first diversity awards ceremony in 2010 to recognize the accomplishments of champions of the University’s diversity mission, goals and programs. The office is hosting the Dallas Black Dance Theatre in partnership with the School of Arts and Humanities. The event benefits the University’s Diversity Scholarship Program, which also was created in 2010 to increase the diversity of students enrolling at the University.

“The University could not carry out its commitment to diversity and inclusion without the many contributions of our students, staff, faculty and community partners,” said Dr. George Fair, vice president for diversity and community engagement and dean of the School of Interdisciplinary Studies. “We look forward to recognizing these champions of diversity at our 10th annual awards event.”

Award recipients include the African Student Union and Katherine Roldan, a mechanical engineering junior and campus leader who serves on UT Dallas’ Diversity Outreach Team. The organization Big Howdy, a collaboration of organizations and volunteers that transported 1,167 international students from the airport when they arrived in the U.S., will receive the Community Champion of Diversity Award.

The University established the Office of Diversity and Community Engagement in 2007 to provide leadership for diversity initiatives. The office oversees a range of programs to promote diversity, including the Galerstein Gender Center, the Department of Institutional Diversity Initiatives, the Multicultural Center and the Department of Community Engagement. UT Dallas has been recognized as one of the most diverse campuses in the country, according to U.S. News & World Report.