The 12th cohort of Outstanding Women of Color awardees will be honored at a reception on Thursday, March 5, 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the Alumni Lounge of the Pyle Center, 716 Langdon Street. The event to celebrate this year’s honorees is open to the campus and community.
In a campus tradition dating back to 2007-2008, the celebration of women who share their exceptional scholarship with the campus and community through their dedicated work, outreach and impact was an outgrowth of a similar award launched by UW System in 1994.
“It is a privilege to celebrate extraordinarily talented, dedicated and hardworking honorees, who are just a few of the many women on campus and in the community, who never ask for praise or recognition,” said Patrick J. Sims, Deputy Vice Chancellor for Diversity and Inclusion. “This year we received more than 50 nominations for this opportunity to salute their exemplary contribution to campus and community. That means there is still an incredible number of candidates who need to know we value your tenacity, strength and wisdom.”
The 2019-20 seven honorees include:
◉ Desiree Bates, Computational Chemistry Leader, Chemistry, College of Letters & Science;
◉ Shiva Bidar-Sielaff, UW Health Chief Diversity Officer, Madison District 5 City Alder;
◉ Gina Green-Harris, Director, Center for Community Engagement & Health Partnerships, School of Medicine & Public Health;
◉ Eden Inoway-Ronnie, Chief of Staff, UW-Madison Office of the Provost;
◉ Laura Minero-Meza, Doctoral Student, Counseling Psychology, School of Education and 2019-2020 Internship at Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior, UC-Los Angeles;
◉ Ahna Skop, Professor, Genetics, College of Agricultural & Life Sciences;
◉ Dr. Jasmine Zapata, Assistant Professor (CHS), Pediatrics, School of Medicine & Public Health and Centennial Scholar, UW Institute for Clinical & Translational Research.
The UW-Madison Outstanding Women of Color Awards acknowledge and honor women of color among UW-Madison faculty, staff, students (undergraduate or post-baccalaureate) and in the Greater Madison community, who have made outstanding contributions in one or more of the following areas:
– Social justice, activism and advocacy on behalf of disadvantaged, marginalized populations;
– Community service;
– Scholarly research, writing, speaking and/or teaching on race, ethnicity and indigeneity in U.S. society, and;
– Community building on- or off-campus, to create an inclusive and respectful environment for all.
For more on this year’s honorees, click here.
In 2007, UW-Madison launched an annual program of awards to women of color for outstanding service in higher education following in the footsteps of the UW System, which began their program of celebrating such women in 1994. More than 50 UW-Madison women of color have been honored in the past decade. Dozens more have been nominated for recognition by their campus and community colleagues and friends.
