For Immediate Release February 22, 2005

For More Information Contact: Diane Brown, 317-274-7711 habrown@iupui.edu

IUPUI Presents Excellence in Diversity Awards at Taylor Symposium

INDIANAPOLIS - A medical student who helped transform the culture of his school is the first student ever named a recipient of an IUPUI award recognizing exemplary efforts toward building diversity on the campus.

A law professor previously honored by the Indiana State Bar Association (ISBA) for promoting diversity and equality among legal practitioners statewide is also one of five recipients of a 2005 Dr. Joseph T. Taylor Award for Excellence in Diversity.

IU School of Law-Indianapolis Associate Dean Angela Espada; Robert Patterson, a fourth-year student in the Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM); and three others, all faculty members, received Excellence in Diversity awards. IUPUI Chancellor Charles R. Bantz presented the awards during the 16th annual Joseph Taylor Symposium held Feb. 16 in the University Place Conference Center on the IUPUI campus.

In addition to Espada and Patterson, others receiving the award were: Jeffrey Anderson, associate professor and director of the Center for Urban and Multicultural Education (CUME); Nancy Chism, associate vice chancellor for professional development and associate dean of the faculties; and Didier Gondola, associate professor of history.

The Excellence in Diversity award recognizes individuals and campus programs for exemplary contributions to the increased recruitment and/or retention of African American and Hispanic faculty, staff and students at IUPUI. The award is given for efforts that enhanced diversity through innovative curricula, research or events.

Brief descriptions of each awardee's accomplishments, along with quotes from nomination letters, follow:

• Jeffery Anderson, associate professor and director of the Center for Urban and Multicultural Education (CUME), was nominated for his contributions to the transformation of the curricular in special education, revitalization of CUME and diversity development of a mentorship program. - "(Dr. Anderson) is providing a new vision and new structural supports to our faculty. He is orchestrating new conversations that are enabling the faculty, both tenure, track and clinical, to start asking how we can work together and with the community and schools to promote diversity."

• Nancy Chism, associate vice chancellor for professional development and associate dean of the faculties, was honored for her extensive research and publications on diversity, and commitment to supporting minority students and fostering their professional careers. - "As an administrator (Dr. Chism) has supported a variety of diversity initiatives at IUPUI and the Indiana University system."

• Angela Espada , associate dean for student services and admissions, Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis, was cited for her work on the Minority Law Day program which brings prospective students to the campus, and the CLEO program, a five-week extensive "head start" instruction seminar. - "Espada's work was key to the 2002 endorsement by the American Bar Association for the diversity of the law school's student body, and played a major role in diversifying the faculty and staff."

• Didier Gondola , associate professor of history, was nominated in recognition of efforts which included his chairing of the 2004 Taylor Symposium, serving as advisor to the African Student Association and involvement with the African and African American Studies Committee - Dr. Gondola's work in the classroom "exhibits energy and vision in the interest of diversity. Dr. Gondola is a highly productive and excellent scholar on top of all this, and his expertise supports IUPUI's commitment to diversity in the classroom, in academia and in the community."

• Robert D. Patterson , fourth-year medical student, is the first student nominated in the award program established in 2000 in memory of the late Dr. Joseph T. Taylor, professor emeritus and the first dean of the IU School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI. Under Patterson's leadership the IUSM Diversity Week was instituted "awakening the medical school community to the issues we face as a nation in the area of racial justice and equality, particularly with regard to health care." Patterson's accomplishments included authorship of "Healthcare Disparities Among Minority Patients at Indiana: A Workforce Development Issue for Indiana University," which earned him the Journal of the National Medicine Association Award for Medical Journalism.

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