The honorary 2016 John T Casteen III Diversity-Equity-Inclusion Leadership Award has been presented to Deborah McDowell, Alice Griffin professor of English and director of the Carter G Woodson Institute of African-American and African Studies, and Frank Dukes, School of Architecture lecturer and distinguished institute fellow of the Institute for Environmental Negotiation.
“I’m really honored and especially honored … to share it with Professor Deborah McDowell,” Dukes said. “So I am doubly honored to be with her.”
Dukes is currently working with the University Community Action for Racial Equity to strengthen the connections between the University and local community.
Additionally, Dukes is studying the impact of memorials and the effect they have on communities across the state.
“We’re also looking at the impact of memorials and how communities … can have more effective conversations about dealing with some of the memorials that many people see as representing a past we would rather forget and figuring out ways that we can not forget about that past but learn from that past,” Dukes said.
The award is relatively new, with John Casteen being the first recipient April 2nd, 2010, during the media, democracy and diversity conference. Casteen is a professor of English and served as the president of the University from 1990 to 2010. He also served as dean of admission from 1975 to 1982.
Dr. Marcus Martin, vice president and chief officer for diversity and equity, said he decided — with the assistance of his office staff — to establish a diversity award in 2009 while he was serving as the interim vice president and chief officer for diversity and equity.
“The Office for Diversity and Equity was established in 2005, following the 2004 report of the President’s commission on diversity and equity that President Casteen established,” Martin said. “So he was the reason, he was the person who established the Office for Diversity and Equity.”
The selection process begins with a call for nominations in the fall. An award selection committee scores each nominee based on the following criteria — status as a current University student, faculty or staff member; having demonstrated deep commitment and passion for diversity; exemplifying leadership roles in increasing diversity, equity and inclusion; and having achieved a sustainable and quantifiable impact on diversity, equity and inclusion at the University and in the local community. McDowell and Dukes earned matching scores.
“We received a record number of nominations this year,” said Martin. “We’ve had so many outstanding candidates. I would love for all of them to win awards.”
McDowell credits this recognition to the many decades she has dedicated to research.
“I was quite taken by surprise,” McDowell said. “I’ve been here for 29 years and all that time has been spent dealing with diversity on a variety of fronts … when one gets these awards especially near the end of one's career, they are often recognition of the work that has accumulated over decades.”
As director of the Carter G. Woodson Institute, McDowell said she prides herself on producing new faculty members for the institute as a result of the Carter G. Woodson Fellowship Program.
“[The fact] that we have been able to make hires that derived organically from the fellowship program makes me very, very proud and very happy,” McDowell said. “It makes me happy for our university to reap the benefits of our investment in these fellows.”
The award will be officially presented to McDowell and Dukes Friday at an annual celebratory luncheon.
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