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Cynthia del Rosario to receive 2011 Diversity Award for Community Building
Cynthia del Rosario
Cynthia del Rosario,director for graduate minority recruitment and retention at the UW Information School, has been named the recipient of the 2011 University of Washington Vice President for Minority Affairs and Vice Provost for Diversity Community Building Award.
The award recognizes a UW student, staff member or faculty member whose efforts toward positive change on campus have resulted in multicultural community building. A statement on the award from the Office of Minority Affairs says del Rosario’s powerful leadership and networking skills have strengthened campus and community dialogues surrounding the topic of diversity.
Del Rosario will be presented with the award at the Multicultural Alumni Partnership (MAP) Bridging the Gap Breakfast at Haggett Hall the morning of Saturday, Oct. 29. That event will kick off the Office of Minority Affairs and Diversity’s The Weekend, an annual homecoming event for alumni of color and friends of diversity that also includes a tailgate and football game.
The award winner sponsors the iSchool’s Diversity Committee and supported the formation of a student organization, iEracism. She is also active in the Graduate Opportunities for Minority Achievement Program (GO-MAP), working to ensure that the iSchool, College of Education and GO-MAP communities know how to support diversity initiatives across campus.
Del Rosario said she’s delighted and honored by the award, but was quick to add, “This work does not happen in a vacuum — it’s always alongside others and on the shoulders of others. It’s an honor, but there are so many people doing amazing work.”
Del Rosario said she’s proud that The Graduate School has “an extremely active” diversity committee that she’s involved with, “developing policy about diversity in admissions criteria, around hiring and we have a very strong, updated diversity statement — we’ve revamped our whole diversity Web presence.” She also has worked with diversity student recruiting for both the iSchool and the College of Education.
Del Rosario earned a bachelor’s degree in speech communication in 1994 and a master’s degree in education in 1996 — both from the UW.
Previous winners include Ja-Anana Elliot (Foster School of Business, 2010); Michelle Habell-Pallán (Department of Women’s Studies, 2009); Michael Verchot (Foster School of Business, 2008); Carolyn Chow (School of Nursing, 2007), Gino Aisenberg (School of Social Work, 2006); and Sheila Edwards Lange (Office of Minority Affairs and Diversity, 2005).
It’s all really about “equity and access” for underrepresented students at the graduate level, del Rosario said. “It’s a joy and an honor to do this as my job — to make my passion my profession.”
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