Creating a culture of belonging, inclusion and diversity is the job of everyone at NC State. Having a sense of community, collaboration and collegiality can contribute significantly to one’s success in college or in one’s career. In line with that philosophy, the annual Chancellor’s Creating Community Awards (begun in 2007 as the University Diversity Awards) serves to recognize efforts across the university related to equity, diversity and inclusion. Now in its 11th year, the program recognizes a collection of outstanding faculty, staff, students, student organizations and colleges/divisions for their exceptional efforts in these areas.

This year’s program will take place on Monday, April 17, 2017 from 8:30-10:00 a.m. in the Piedmont-Mountains Ballroom of Talley Student Union. Cash awards are presented to one winner in each of the six categories based on pre-selected criteria.

The Office for Institutional Equity and Diversity is currently seeking nominations for the 2017 Chancellor’s Creating Community Awards Program. Nominations must be submitted by Monday, April 3, 2017 via the online submission form.

Each year, the program has grown in the number of nominations and range of achievements. Here are some snapshots of the nominations of some of the 2016 winners:

“Maria Correa is an active change agent at NC State. She has used her voice over the last five years to partner with OIED to advocate, recommend and lead initiatives for a more inclusive campus community for students and faculty. Dr. Maria Correa was the first Hispanic/Latinx faculty in a tenure-track position and Hispanic/Latinx female faculty promoted to full professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine. In 2012, she organized the NC State Hispanic/Latinx Faculty Group and the Hispanic/Latino UNC-Faculty Forum, which were open to faculty from all UNC-system institutions. Now in its fifth year, the forum rotates among all UNC colleges and universities. Dr. Correa continually promotes NC State University as the “University of Choice” for Hispanics/Latinos through outreach programs, publishes articles for Spanish-speaking newspapers that promote NC State student accomplishments and faculty/staff activities and speaks at different community events about careers in STEM”

“Fatou Mbye’s commitment to diversity education and inclusion is genuine and contagious! Fatou regularly engages our leadership team in discussions related to understanding others through a lens different from our own. She often challenges our language by respectfully asking us to think about the meaning behind the words we choose, allowing us to identify opportunities to broaden our notions of inclusivity. This year she advised and led the West Campus Cultural Immersion and Service spring break trip of 24 students to New Orleans in addition to committing time to assist with other high-impact trips for students. She helped facilitate the Women’s Center trip for the National Black Girl Movement Conference in NYC. During this trip, Fatou attended conference sessions and engaged NC State students in discussions related to topics of empowerment, inequity and erasing barriers for educational success.”

“The Engineering Place has worked for over 15 years to diversify the stream of students interested in careers in STEM. We recognized that any efforts to diversify the College of Engineering must start in elementary school. As a result, the staffs of the Engineering Place have worked tirelessly to bring solid research on promoting and supporting educational diversity through improvements in the way that math and science are taught in K-12 schools and to placing importance on 21st-century skills for all students. The Engineering Summer Programs have grown to serve over 1700 students each summer in grades 2-12. The staff have placed a priority on recruiting students who are traditionally underrepresented in engineering: females, African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans. Budgeting for these self-sustaining programs is done in such a way as to allow for a substantial amount of scholarship support so that no student will be turned away for an inability to pay. Where engineering at the undergraduate level (nationwide) is approximately 18% female and less that 10% ethnic minority, the camps are approximately 40% female and 32% ethnic minority, with a particularly high in Native American and African American participation. These numbers are achieved through multiple means, including using diversity-friendly teaching techniques, paying particular attention to ensure that projects at the camp have real application to making the world a better place, partnering with community and religious organizations to recruit applicants and others. Last year, The Engineering Place offered the first-ever engineering experience for visually impaired and blind high school students. Students came from all over the country to spend a week at NC State doing hands-on engineering projects and learning about navigating a university engineering program. This highly acclaimed camp will be offered again this summer.”

The Chancellor’s Creating Community Awards program is coordinated annually by the Office for Institutional Equity and Diversity in partnership with the University Diversity Advisory Committee. The event is free and open to the campus community.

• See the website for more information and past recipients.

Dr. Tracey Ray is assistant vice provost for student diversity.