November 21, 2003 Feature
Utah
State Speaks About Equal Opportunity
Dr. William B. Harvey, administrator and equal opportunity
scholar, will be the keynote speaker for Utah State University’s
10th Annual University Diversity Awards, on Tuesday, Dec. 2,
from 9-10:30 a.m. in the Eccles Conference Center Auditorium.
The event is free and open to the public.
 Following
Harvey’s speech on “Democracy, Diversity and Demography,”
President Kermit L. Hall will present the 2003 University Awards
to Stan Albrecht, Nick Eastmond, Janet Osborne, Tiffany Leo
and Barbara Shidler. All recipients are recognized individuals
on campus or in the Cache Valley community who have made significant
contributions to affirmative action, equal opportunity and diversity.
Harvey, the keynote speaker, is the director of the Office
of Minorities in Higher Education at the American Council on
Education and has held dean, chancellor and professor positions
at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He has also held faculty
and administrative positions at North Carolina State University,
The State University of New York at Stony Brook and others.
 “Dr.
Harvey is a nationally recognized expert on issues concerning
minorities in higher education,” said Sue Guenter-Schlesinger,
director of affirmative action and equal opportunity at Utah
State. “His is one of the important voices on the cultural
and social factors that affect underserved populations.
Harvey recently shared the podium with President Hall at the
“National Forum on Affirmative Action in Higher Education”
at Harvard University.
He serves on the advisory boards of the Study of New Scholars
Project at Harvard University, the Yale-Howard Partnership Center
on Reducing Health Disparities, the Project Site Support at
Johns Hopkins University and the board of visitors of the School
of Education at the University of Pittsburgh. He has also chaired
the Higher Education Committee for Equity.
 The
Diversity Award recipients were nominated for the awards because
they have furthered the principles and values of affirmative
action, equal opportunity and diversity. One individual was
chosen from each of five different categories including administrator,
faculty, staff, student and community member.
Albrecht will be honored in the category of administrator.
He is the executive vice president and provost at Utah State.
Albrecht promoted two women as deans of colleges and also promoted
women to positions such as assistant provost. He also established
funding to increase diversity and assist in the hiring of minority
faculty.
“Provost Albrecht has been a proactive advocate of diversity
at the university,” said a nominator. “He devotes
tremendous time and energy to creating diversity strategies
that make an impact.
 Eastmond,
professor of instructional technology, will be honored in the
category of faculty. For 18 years, Eastmond has hosted instructional
technology's International Night to recognize students in the
department. He has taught classes dealing with race, communication
and cultural issues. He also received the Utah State International
Council's Professor of the Year award, raised money to build
a school in South Africa and serves as the faculty advisor to
the African Students Association.
Osborne, director of the Utah State Women's and Re-Entry Student
Center, will receive the award in the staff category. Osborne
teaches sociology of gender classes and initiated the Women's
Leadership Institute.
 “People
feel accepted by Janet for who they are as human beings,”
said a nominator. “She has mentored hundreds of women
from many walks of life during her 24 years at Utah State. She
is able to work productively with differences of culture, race,
gender and religion.
Leo, Associated Students of Utah State University diversity
vice president, is the award winner in the category of student.
Some of her efforts include sponsoring the Pride Alliance Film
Festival, advocating that STAB movies be shown closed captioned
and lobbying for funding for the Native American Pow-wow and
Polynesian Student Union Luau.
Shidler, City of Hyrum's Strength and Diversity committee chair,
will receive the community member award. Shidler arranges for
interpreters for parents of Hispanic children to attend parent
teacher conferences. She developed the international food festival
and has been supportive of grants to provide computer technology
to assist the Hispanic population in learning English.
Story by Tracey Fox, taf@cc.usu.edu
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