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/ Events / Chancellor’s Awards for Inclusive Excellence

Chancellor’s Awards for Inclusive Excellence

In January 2020, App State presented its inaugural Chancellor’s Awards for Inclusive Excellence. These awards are designed to shine a light on individuals at App State and in the community whose work demonstrates their active, intentional and ongoing commitment to inclusive excellence. Additional award categories were added in 2022.

“The efforts of the App State Community work in concert with those of our surrounding communities. Together, we are working to create an environment that supports a full breadth of belief, thought and community.”

App State Chancellor Sheri Everts

2023 Award Criteria and Nominations

The 2023 Chancellor’s Awards for Inclusive Excellence Luncheon will take place on Wednesday, April 26. Recipients of the following four awards will be announced at the event: Inclusive Excellence for Faculty/Staff Award, Inclusive Excellence for Students Award, Inclusive Excellence in the Community Award and Inclusive Excellence for Youth Award.

Inclusive Excellence for Faculty/Staff Award

Nomination criteria: The Inclusive Excellence for Faculty/Staff Award celebrates a distinguished App State faculty or staff member (including professors of all ranks as well as EHRA and SHRA employees) who has collaborated with members of the campus community to advance diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging at App State. Nominees should have made a significant contribution toward creating a diverse and inclusive campus environment through one or more of the following: 

  • Embedding diversity, equity and inclusion into a structural/institutional aspect of their department or classroom.
  • Participating and engaging in diversity and inclusion events on campus.
  • Fostering and supporting an equitable campus climate through visibility, advocacy, communication and education. 
  • Contributing to other areas critical to establishing diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging.

Inclusive Excellence for Students Award

Nomination criteria: The Inclusive Excellence for Students Award celebrates an App State undergraduate or graduate student who has advanced diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging at App State. Nominees should have made a significant contribution toward creating a diverse and inclusive community through one or more of the following: 

  • Advocating for the rights of and justice for minoritized groups within or outside of App State.
  • Using scholarship to create awareness of diversity and inclusion within the campus community.
  • Recruiting new students from minoritized groups. 
  • Encouraging diverse perspectives on App State’s campus through demonstrative actions. 
  • Contributing to other areas critical to establishing diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging.

Inclusive Excellence for Community Award

Nomination criteria: The Inclusive Excellence in the Community Award celebrates an individual or group who has advanced diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging in their community consistent with App State’s mission, vision and values. Nominees should have made a significant contribution toward creating change through one or more of the following: 

  • Demonstrating a commitment to diversity and inclusion through scholarship, advocacy and leadership that deepens and furthers App State’s goal to be inclusive in meaningful ways locally and globally. 
  • Providing leadership and/or mentorship to underrepresented groups. 
  • Demonstrating sustained service and significant impact in the community consistent with App State’s values.

Inclusive Excellence for Youth Award

Nomination criteria: The Inclusive Excellence for Youth Award celebrates an individual or group of individuals under the age of 18 years old who has made a significant contribution in diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging in their community consistent with App State’s mission, vision and values. Nominees should have made a significant contribution toward creating significant change through one or more of the following:

  • Demonstrating a commitment toward diversity and inclusion through advocacy and leadership that deepens and furthers our goals to be inclusive in meaningful ways locally and globally. 
  • Providing leadership and/or mentorship to underrepresented groups.
  • Demonstrating sustained service and significant impact in the community consistent with App State’s values.

Past Awards

Inclusive Excellence Winners 2022
App State Chancellor Sheri Everts, center, with the winners of the 2022 Chancellor’s Awards for Inclusive Excellence: Dr. Brandon Nelson, far left, App State’s interim director of University Housing, representing University Housing; Eris Jenkins, second from left, an App State graduate student; Lamont Sellers, third from left, App State’s director of Intercultural Student Affairs; Chandler Smith, third from right, an App State undergraduate student; Yolanda Adams, second from right, family resource coordinator for Watauga County Schools; and Dr. Jamie Levine, associate professor in App State’s Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences. Photo by Troy Tuttle
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2022 recipients

  • Dr. Jamie Levine
    Inclusive Excellence for Faculty
    Levine is an associate professor in App State’s Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences and she established a diversity, equity and inclusion committee within the department. She has also served as an inclusive excellence liaison in App State’s Center for Academic Excellence for three years.
  • Yolanda Adams
    Inclusive Excellence in the Community
    Adams is the family resource coordinator for Watauga County Schools. She implemented the Juntos Program, which helps encourage 8th through 12th grade Latino students to pursue higher education. She also works to build bridges between the Latino community and law enforcement by helping organize events, including Coffee with a Cop and the Latino Fair.
  • Chandler Smith
    Inclusive Excellence for Undergraduate Students
    Smith is an App State senior majoring in nutrition and foods. She has worked to be an advocate for her peers and those in the community and to support programming on campus, including Body Positive App State.
  • Eris Jenkins
    Inclusive Excellence for Graduate Students
    Jenkins is an App State graduate student majoring in student affairs administration. They are an intern in the Office of Diversity, the residence director of Appalachian Heights and the office assistant for the Henderson Springs LGBT Center.
  • Lamont Sellers
    Inclusive Excellence for Staff
    Sellers is App State’s director of Intercultural Student Affairs. He has worked to revitalize the university’s intercultural student development and to help the campus community discuss potentially triggering topics in a collaborative manner.
  • University Housing
    Inclusive Excellence for a Department
    Staff members in App State’s University Housing have participated in professional development opportunities, including implicit bias training and the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI). Regarding the latter, the staff attended one-on-one sessions with certified facilitators to process their results and establish personal development plans.
Inclusive Excellence Winners 2020
App State Chancellor Sheri Everts, second from left, with the inaugural winners of the Chancellor’s Awards for Inclusive Excellence: Rabbi Stephen Roberts, spiritual leader of the Temple of the High Country, far left; Watauga County Schools Superintendent Scott Elliott, who represented the school district’s Coffee Talk program, second from right; and Dr. Claudia Cartaya-Marin, professor in and chair of App State’s A.R. Smith Department of Chemistry and Fermentation Sciences. Photo by Marie Freeman
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2020 recipients

  • Dr. Claudia Cartaya-Marin
    Inclusive Excellence for Faculty
    Cartaya-Marin is a professor in and chair of App State’s A.R. Smith Department of Chemistry and Fermentation Sciences and serves on the Chief Diversity Officer’s Advisory Board. She created a summer bridge program designed for incoming students transitioning into STEM programs and helped found APP Unidos, the university’s Hispanic/Latino faculty and staff association.
  • Rabbi Stephen Roberts
    Inclusive Excellence in the Community
    Roberts has served as the spiritual leader of the Temple of the High Country since 2013 and is an active member of the High Country Multi-Faith Clergy and Leaders. He has edited two textbooks on pastoral care and founded ChaplainDL, a distance learning continuing education platform for professional chaplains.
  • Watauga County Schools Coffee Talk program
    Inclusive Excellence for Youth
    The Watauga County Schools Coffee Talk began at Hardin Park Elementary in 2004 and expanded to Watauga High in 2008. Through this instructional program, students with disabilities plan, run and host a coffee shop for faculty, staff, parents and community members that allows the students to refine skills related to academics, vocations, healthful living and social interactions. Each month, Coffee Talk involves 14 students at Hardin Park Elementary and up to 30 students at Watauga High. The program has also donated to local charities, including the Health and Hunger Coalition, Hospitality House, OASIS (Opposing Abuse with Service, Information and Shelter), Western Youth Network and Watauga Humane Society.

Contact

Diversity and Inclusion at App State
Jamie Parson, J.D. Chief Diversity Officer
Phone: 828-262-2460
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