Phitsamay Uy, 2018 Faculty Award recipient
Phitsamay Uy is an Associate Professor of Leadership in Schooling in the College of Education and the Co-Director of the Center for Asian American Studies. She provides professional development workshops to teachers and educators on cultural competency and responsiveness. As she worked closely with educators on ways to teach students from Southeast Asian communities, she recognized the lack of relevant teaching materials available to the teachers. As an initiative to begin to correct this problem, she requested funding and along with a colleague created a children’s book that teachers could use and read to their students in their classroom. She met with elders from the Southeast Asian communities to collect stories and folktales. As a result a children’s book was created. Her efforts allowed teachers the opportunity to not only learn themselves but create an inclusive and welcoming environment for their students.
Ruby Carnevale, 2018 Staff Award Recipient
Ruby Carnevale is the Director of Employment Services and a member of the Human Resources/Equal Opportunity Office leadership team at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. In each and every employment search, she takes the time necessary, both with committees and hiring managers, to teach, inform and support them to insure that priorities of hiring the most qualified and diverse work force. She emphasizes that this commitment is the responsibility of everyone at UMass Lowell. She challenges folks when necessary, supports and guides when appropriate, creatively explores avenues and options to increase diversity in candidate pools in a manner that is understood and appreciated. Ruby continually forges relationships and understandings of the truest goals of the dignity, value and potential of all candidates and the University’s Blueprint towards an Inclusive and Global Community
African Community Center of Lowell, 2018 Group Award Recipient
The African Community Center of Lowell was established in October, 2016 with the goal of promoting responsible citizenship by improving the quality of life and supporting the achievement of African immigrants, refugees, and other minorities and economically disadvantaged persons in Lowell through educational, social, and cultural initiatives. The organization’s members have demonstrated unwavering and sustained commitment to community engagement and community service, often working with the most vulnerable and marginalized migrant families in our community. Although these accomplishments are exemplary in their own right, what distinguishes them is the fact that all of these were achieved in the absence of any regular funding. Under the direction of founder and Executive Director Gordon Halm, an alumnus of the Peace and Conflict Studies Masters at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, the Center hopes to continue to make a difference in the lives of immigrants and the city of Lowell at large.
Fang Zhang, 2018 Student Recipient
Fang Zhang is a doctoral student studying Chemistry and Bio Chemistry in the Kennedy College of Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. After 5 years studying and living in Lowell, he loves our campus and truly appreciates the environment where he can study and live with equal rights and opportunities. Even as a Ph.D. student, he continued to dedicate his free time and participate in many campus efforts including: Student Alumni Ambassadors, The Graduate Student Association, and the Pair Up Program. The nominee’s commitment to student service is reflective of their life’s blueprint, which is to make a positive impact and creating unity in the community. He also shows this in his volunteer experiences in our community outside of campus. Fang has been involved in different community services including volunteering for Cor Unum Meal Center in Lawrence, Mass., serving food for less fortunate people on Friday nights; volunteering for Matthew 25, a program based in Worcester, Mass. to build affordable houses for low-income families and volunteering for soup making & serving for Living Water Center of Hope in Lowell.