Five Faculty and Staff Recognized for Dedication to Diversity and Inclusion
Five University of Illinois faculty and staff members have been recognized for their exceptional dedication to and success in promoting diversity and inclusion as the 2020 recipients of the Larine Y. Cowan Make A Difference Award.
This year’s recipients include:
- College of Law professor Robin Fretwell Wilson, for her work as on the creators of “Tolerance Means Dialogue,” an innovative program that is at the forefront of efforts to further the inclusion of LGBTQ+ people in the legal academy and profession;
- Disability Resources & Educational Services staff member Ann Fredricksen, for her work to transform the DRES Accessible Media Services into a center of excellence for captioning on campus;
- College of Applied Health Sciences professor Kimberly J. Shinew, for a career dedicated to addressing disparities and social justice in higher education, her discipline, and society; and
- College of Education professors Meghan Burke and Eboni M. Zamani-Gallaher – Burke for her work to increase the advocacy skills of family members of individuals with disabilities; Zamani-Gallaher for her work to bridge scholarship with practice in higher education to ensure the applicability of diversity research in educational and workplace environments.
Named in honor of the past Assistant Chancellor and Director of what would become the Office for Access & Equity, the Larine Y. Cowan Awards were created to reflect the commitment to human rights advocacy, social justice, and diversity that defined her leadership for nearly 20 years at Illinois.
This year’s recipients of the Larine Y. Cowan Make a Difference Award will be honored as part of the 35th Annual Celebration of Diversity, hosted by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. This year’s virtual video can be viewed at go.illinois.edu/DiversityCelebration.