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OMA&D Recognizes Retirements of Four Leaders

Over 80 years of combined service to the UW Office of Minority Affairs and Diversity.

eNews Button Winter 2015This is what OMA&D is bidding farewell to as four of its leaders – Enrique Morales, Emile Pitre, Karlotta Rosebaugh and Betty Schmitz – retire during the 2014-15 academic year.

“This group has left an indelible mark on our efforts to promote access, equity and inclusion at the University of Washington,” Vice President for Minority Affairs and Vice Provost for Diversity Sheila Edwards Lange said. “I can’t thank them enough for their incredible contributions to our mission and the students we serve. We will miss them dearly but wish them the best as they embark on new chapters in their lives.”

Enrique MoralesMorales retired in January following a 34-year OMA&D tenure focused on admissions, advising and administration. In 2002, he took on the role of associate vice president and was responsible for overseeing OMA&D pre-college programs and administering undergraduate recruitment for low-income, first-generation and underrepresented minority students. Most recently Morales served as the senior advisor to Lange on pre-college programs and policy. He served on national committees for the College Board and American Council on Education, and with the University of Michigan through the Ford Foundation Committee. Morales received the 1977 UW Distinguished Staff Award for his leadership within OMA&D and work in post-affirmative action policy and advocacy. He also received the Star Award from the Western Region College Board and the Leadership Award from the Washington Council on High School-College Relations.

Emile PitreLike Morales, Pitre’s OMA&D career spanned over three decades and his work influenced the lives of thousands of students. He joined the department as head chemistry instructor for the Instructional Center (IC) in 1982 and seven years later was named the center’s director. In that role, he managed a professional staff of 16 instructors and a tutorial staff of 75-100. During Pitre’s tenure, the IC won University Recognition Awards for instructional excellence and diversity. Most recently, he served as OMA&D’s associate vice president for assessment. Pitre was also a longtime voice for promoting social justice, inclusion and equity at the UW. He served over 19 years as advisor to the Black Student Union, an organization he helped found in 1968. Pitre has received several awards, including a UW Professional Staff Organization Award for Excellence. Two academic scholarships have been established in his name, one with the IC and the other with his fraternity, Epsilon Epsilon Sigma. He retired in December.

Karlotta RosebaughAfter working more than 24 years at the UW, including the past 11 with OMA&D, Rosebaugh retired in October. Rosebaugh was the director of OMA&D’s Health Sciences Center Minority Students Program which provides graduate and professional school application assistance, academic advising and undergraduate research opportunities for diverse students pursuing health sciences degrees. In her role she assisted in writing several teaching grants which resulted in over $12 million in funding for educational initiatives for high school and undergraduate students in the health and biomedical/biobehavioral sciences. She also taught an annual seminar on “Cultural and Global Citizenship Competency” for the Harvard School of Public Health Multidisciplinary International Research Training Program. She was honored as a female leader in healthcare by the Northwest Asian Weekly in 2014.

Schmitz, director of institutional transformation and coordinator of the UW Diversity Council, will retire in March.  Since joining OMA&D in 2004 she has worked with departments and faculty across the university interested in institutional change. Schmitz also advises Lange on institutional diversity issues. Prior to her current role, Schmitz directed the UW Center for Curriculum Transformation from 1992-2013 and worked with faculty to create new diversity courses. She co-chaired the Task Force on Diversity in the Curriculum and received a Staff Appreciation Award in 2013 from the Student Diversity Coalition for her role in the successful passing of a diversity requirement at the UW. Before coming to Seattle, she directed long-term faculty development projects and institutes at several major universities. Schmitz has lectured, written and consulted extensively on curriculum and institutional change. Her books include Core Curriculum and Cultural Pluralism and Integrating Women’s Studies into the Curriculum.