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  • OMA&D Remembers Eddie Ray Walker

    January 26, 2024

    Eddie Walker

      Eddie Ray Walker passed away on Monday, December 4, 2023. As a lifelong advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion, especially in relation to Black-centered art and Black artists, Walker has left an indelible mark on the University of Washington. His actions as a student and throughout his life have helped shape the experience of thousands of OMA&D students over…

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  • Suquamish Tribe Chairman Leonard Forsman to Receive Charles E. Odegaard Award

    January 9, 2024

    The University of Washington Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity has announced Suquamish Tribe Chairman and UW Regent, the Honorable Leonard Forsman ’87, as the next recipient of the Charles E. Odegaard Award. As a long-time advocate for Native rights and civil rights, and the first American Indian appointed to the University of Washington Board of Regents, Forsman will receive…

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  • Mariama Suwaneh to Receive the Inaugural Spark Award

    January 9, 2024

    The University of Washington Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity has announced Mariama Suwaneh, ’17, as the inaugural recipient of the OMA&D Spark Award. As an actively engaged student at the UW and an avid community builder since graduation, Suwaneh embodies the diversity, equity and inclusion leadership that inspires young changemakers and exemplifies the spirit of the Charles E. Odegaard award.…

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  • 2023 Samuel E. Kelly Distinguished Faculty Lecture Recap

    November 6, 2023

    On Tuesday, October 17, 2023, OMA&D held its annual Samuel E. Kelly Distinguished Faculty Lecture. This year, the lecture featured Dr. Joanne Woiak, Associate Teaching Professor for the Disability Studies Program at the University of Washington. Her lecture “Engaging Disability, Empowering History: Ethics and Politics of Disability History” highlighted the exclusion and erasure of disabilities from history and the impact…

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  • The Raap Approach

    October 25, 2023

    Champions students at a pumpkin patch in October 2023.

    How Melissa Raap’s first-generation college student experience shapes her work today.   Melissa Raap, MSW (’11) manages the University of Washington’s Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity Champions program. Champions serves students on the UW Seattle campus who are alumni of foster care or unaccompanied homeless youth by helping them navigate the challenging bureaucracies that come with being a student.…

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  • Thank you! 2023 Celebration Event Recap

    June 6, 2023

    With help from OMA&D supporters, we raised over $370,000 for OMA&D and EOP scholarships! On Wednesday, May 17, 2023, the Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity and the Friends of the Educational Opportunity Program Board of Trustees hosted 550 people in the University of Washington Husky Union Ballroom for a wonderful evening of music, dancing, dining and celebrating together in…

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  • Celebration is Back! Highlights from the 2022 Celebration Gala

    June 1, 2022

    A Message from VP Rickey Hall Thank you for supporting our annual gala, Celebration, presented by the Office of Minority Affairs and Diversity and the Friends of the Educational Opportunity Program Board! We are grateful to our community of supporters who came together in person and virtually last week to honor Frank Irigon as the Charles E. Odegaard award recipient…

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  • University of Washington initiatives receive investment from the Mark Torrance Foundation to support diversity, equity and inclusion

    March 31, 2022

    Two University of Washington initiatives that support the recruitment and post-graduation success and impact of students from underrepresented backgrounds have received investments from the Mark Torrance Foundation (MTF) totaling $920,000. The UW’s Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity (OMA&D) will receive $420,000 over two years to support its Multicultural Outreach and Recruitment initiative. This investment will allow OMA&D to increase the number of students the…

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  • Welcome Madrienne White as the OMA&D Representative to the University of Washington Foundation Board

    November 8, 2021

    Madrienne White (’08, 19) has joined the University of Washington Foundation Board (UWFB) as the representative for the Office of Minority Affairs and Diversity (OMA&D). She is moving into the position previously held by long term OMA&D advocate and 2015 Charles E. Odegaard Award recipient Colleen Fukui-Sketchley. White graduated from UW in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in American Indian…

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  • OMA&D announces Black Opportunity Fund endowment

    January 28, 2021

    The University of Washington and the Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity are pleased to announce the Black Opportunity Fund has established its first endowment through an anonymous donor’s generous gift of $300,000.  The Black Opportunity Fund was established last year to acknowledge the harm that systemic racism has on the Black community and to fund a strategic agenda that meets immediate…

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