Rutgers Presents Human Dignity Awards to Six Honorees

The honorees include a staffer who works to support Asian-American LGBT students, a student life professional, a visual artist; a university chancellor, a student who advocates for LGBT classmates and a history professor who has helped more than 50 former inmates obtain a Rutgers education.  See related story.

“We like to say this is one of the university’s highest honors,’’ said Dean of Students Cheryl Clarke, who coordinated the awards process. “This award says that Rutgers recognizes people who promote its core values, one of which is diversity. It also says Rutgers demonstrates a commitment to those values through collaborations between the academic world and the co-curricular world.’’’

 The recipients are as follows:

 Leroy C. Haines: Haines, assistant director residence life, Livingston Campus, has worked for 43 years at Livingston, dedicating his life to reducing prejudice, promoting respect for diversity, creating inclusive communities and mentoring hundreds of undergraduates.

Ji Hyun Lee: Lee has made great efforts to create a more affirming atmosphere for Asian American LGBT students and faculty on the New Brunswick and Piscataway campuses. As director of the Asian American Cultural Center, she collaborated with the Center for Social Justice Education and LGBT Communities to initiate the innovative bi- weekly dialogue project, “Bringing Real Intergroup Dialogue for Greater Equality” (B.R.I.D.G.E.).

 Donovan Linder: Linder, a Rutgers-Newark senior, helped establish gender-neutral campus housing and the LGBT Studies minor in his role as a student representative on the Chancellor’s LGBT taskforce. For the last three years, he’s served as president and vice president of RU Pride.

Claudio Mir: An accomplished visual and performing artist, Claudio Mir, program coordinator, Civic Engagement and Service Education Partnerships , has dedicated his career to giving voice to the marginalized. Through his work as artistic director of the AMARDV Summer Arts Camp, as Artist in the Schools for the New Jersey State Arts Council and as director of the Community Artist Residency Training Series, he has energized and validated diverse communities.  He also created the Rutgers Bonner Leaders Program, one of 70 nationwide.

 Wendell Pritchett Wendell Pritchett, chancellor of Rutgers University Campus Camden, has continued to develop Rutgers-Camden’s rich tradition of community and civic engagement initiatives.  In 2010, he launched the Office for Civic Engagement, which focuses on developing academic curricula that incorporate service learning to the mutual benefit of Rutgers students, faculty and the civic community.

 Donald A. Roden A professor of history, Roden has changed the lives of the 50 ex-offenders who are matriculating through Rutgers through his work as a mentor with the Mountainview Youth Correctional Facility.  In 2004, he created the Mountainview Prison Project, a partnership between the facility and Rutgers. He has changed the perceptions of his fellow faculty members and administrators, who, along with his students, regard him as astonishing and inspirational.