Office for Institutional Diversity Announces Inclusive Excellence Recognition Award Winners
LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 18, 2020) — The University of Kentucky Office for Institutional Diversity recognized a student, faculty member and college department recently with the 2020 Inclusive Excellence Recognition Awards.
“Creating inclusive excellence throughout our campus community requires us to work in collaboration with each other,” said Sonja Feist-Price, UK vice president for institutional diversity. “We have students, faculty, staff and academic and professional units that give of themselves beyond what anyone would ask or expect. And they do so because of their love for our campus community, and because they recognize what it takes to become a university where everyone, irrespective of identity or perspective, feels a sense of belonging.”
The Inclusive Excellence Recognition winners exemplify characteristics of: building awareness and understanding in the name of diversity and inclusion; creating leadership opportunities; sponsoring or actively promoting programs, initiatives or projects in the area of diversity and inclusion; and collaborating with others in sponsorship, development and implementation of projects or programs in the area of diversity and inclusion.
The 2020 winners are:
- Jean Branttie — graduate student, College of Medicine Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry;
- Kevin Pearson — faculty, College of Medicine Department of Pharmacology and Nutritional Sciences; and
- Office of Diversity, College of Agriculture, Food and Environment — college/department/unit.
These awards are usually presented in the spring during a joint ceremony with the Provost’s Outstanding Teaching Awards. The April ceremony was canceled this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.
In 2022, UK was ranked by Forbes as one of the “Best Employers for New Grads” and named a “Diversity Champion” by INSIGHT into Diversity, a testament to our commitment to advance Kentucky and create a community of belonging for everyone. While our mission looks different in many ways than it did in 1865, the vision of service to our Commonwealth and the world remains the same. We are the University for Kentucky.