Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi last week recognized faculty, staff, students and a Davis resident for helping to create the kind of campus community where respect for others is paramount.

“Thank you for creating this environment,” Katehi said in presenting the Chancellor’s Achievement Awards for Diversity and Community, during an evening reception at her home.

The program had been postponed from March 2, during Principles of Community Week. However, a protest over budget cuts that day briefly blocked the intersection of Russell Boulevard and Howard Way — near the Chancellor’s Residence — and, as a result, officials called off the awards program.

It finally took place the evening of April 15. The chancellor, assisted by Associate Executive Vice Chancellor Rahim Reed, who heads the Office of Campus Community Relations, presented seven awards in six categories: Academic Senate, Academic Federation, staff, undergraduate student, graduate student, and community member.

The undergraduate award recipient, Maribel Gomez, was not able to attend the rescheduled event, having departed for Cuba for a quarter of study in the UC Davis Education Abroad Program. Her cousin Javier Garcia, who also attends UC Davis, accepted on her behalf.

Gomez, a fifth-year senior, is a double major in design and Chicana/o studies, with a minor in women and gender studies. She is the coordinator of the Peer Education Program at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Resource Center. In her role as the LGBT Resource Center community intern, she developed and coordinated the first Queer Leadership Retreat. In addition, Gomez is the Chicana/o Peer Mentoring Program coordinator, assisting in the retention of Latino students.

Here are the other award recipients:

Academic Senate — Adela de la Torre, professor and chair, Department of Chicana/o Studies Department. Her research focuses on unraveling and combating health disparities among Latinos in transnational and local contexts. In addition, she works to expand science and art opportunities for young people. In the science realm, she works with a Central Valley program that assists English-language learning students, by assisting their science teachers in developing culturally relevant strategies to connect with their students. In the art realm, she helped launch the TANA youth art center in Woodland, with TANA standing for Taller Arte de Nuevo Amanecer, or Art Workshops of the New Dawn. Also, de la Torre lends her support to the recruitment and retention of faculty of color, and to student mentorship efforts.

Academic Federation — Nancy Erbstein, assistant project scientist, Department of Human and Community Development. Her leadership, commitment and focus facilitated an examination of the well-being of low-income, disadvantaged youths in a number of populations, including immigrant, foster care, juvenile justice system, homeless, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender — and how they might be better supported. In addition, Erbstein developed new UC Davis relationships with foundations, youth-serving organizations and other community organizations, including schools and other civic groups.

Staff — Sheri Atkinson, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Resource Center. During her seven years in Student Affairs, Atkinson has implemented and presented a variety of diversity and social justice education programs. They include Safe Zone training, open to students, staff and faculty, for the purpose of creating a more welcoming and safe environment for people who identify as gay or lesbian, bisexual or transsexual, or questioning, in the places where they live and work. Last year, she led a town hall meeting after an anti-gay graffiti attack on the LGBT Resource Center.

Graduate Student — Galit Erez, a master’s student in the Department of Human and Community Development, with a thesis project on the refugee resettlement processes in the greater Sacramento region. After the devastating earthquake in Haiti in January 2010, Erez mobilized a diverse group of students across departments, forming the Haiti Action Committee to help in the relief effort. She worked as an intern with Opening Doors, a Sacramento-based nonprofit organization that aids the social and economic integration of refugees and immigrants. She also has demonstrated a commitment to diversity in the campus community, as a participant in the Cross Cultural Center’s REACH retreat, with REACH standing for Reaffirming Ethnic Awareness and Community Harmony.

Graduate Student — Lisceth Cruz, a doctoral student in the School of Education, with a dissertation project on undocumented students and their transition to higher education. She does more than study this subject: She established the Latino Graduate Student Association in 2007 (and served as founding co-chair) to help foster a sense of belonging and community for Latino grad students. In addition, she established the Chicana/o studies seminar “Applying to Graduate School.” As the instructor, Cruz developed innovative curriculum to guide students to consider and understand their opportunities in higher education.

Community — Janet Boulware, who at first started an internship program and later a foundation to address the needs of Latina/o students and English-language learners in the Davis Joint Unified School District. She established the internship program through the Department of Chicana/o Studies. Out of that grew the Davis Bridge Educational Foundation, which provides a new approach to integrating Latina/o students with their community and their schools — offering a vision for the future. UC Davis tutors, who often share similar backgrounds to Davis Bridge students, demonstrate that college is within each student’s reach. The students also receive needed school supplies and nutritious snacks through Davis Bridge.

Four days after the chancellor's awards presentation, the university held its 21st annual Soaring to New Heights program, for the presentation of Diversity and Principles of Community Achievement Awards and the Disability Awareness Recognition Awards. See separate story.