UC Honors the Students, Faculty, Staff and Administrators Who Exemplify the Ideals of UC s Just Community

Their daily actions demonstrate the values of UC’s Just Community through teaching, learning, living, working or serving the community.

UC Chief Diversity Officer and Vice President for Student Affairs Mitchel D. Livingston will present six members of the UC community with the 13th annual Just Community Awards at the University Recognition Ceremony at 4 p.m., Sunday, May 16, in the Great Hall of Tangeman University Center (TUC).

UC’s Just Community initiative is a nationally recognized program for civic education developed around the principles of pursuing scholarship and leadership, celebrating the uniqueness of each individual, practicing civility, embracing freedom and openness, seeking integrity, promoting justice, striving for excellence and accepting responsibility.

The recipients were nominated by members of the UC community. The 2010 recipients of UC’s Just Community Awards are

Debbie Brawn – The director of academic programs for the University Honors Program was recognized for demonstrating UC’s Just Community principles in her daily working practices. She was praised for her efforts on a university honors seminar that led to the once-in-a-lifetime winter break learning experience in the Galapagos Islands, part of UC’s Darwin Sesquicentennial Celebration. She was also praised for her efforts to develop socially aware student campus leaders through her work with the LeaderShape Institute, a six-day interactive program that builds leadership skills and abilities. In addition to her work with academically talented students in the University Honors Program, Brawn was also praised for her work with an academic advising group for at-risk students.

Eric Gruenstein – The professor for the Department of Molecular Genetics for the College of Medicine was recognized for his efforts to garner community support for energy conservation and for his efforts to raise awareness among faculty and students about the role of our “carbon footprint” in climate change. He was praised for his role in forming the Green Partnership for Greater Cincinnati (GPCC), a coalition that is pooling its expertise to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase energy efficiency. He was also praised for educating architecture and engineering students about the practical aspects of building energy audits to improve building efficiency. “Eric is a well-respected professor at our university, an outstanding scientist and a compassionate and dedicated conservationist,” says Sandra Degen, UC vice president for research. “He has been able to use his respect in our community to turn his passion into an educational and leadership effort with his colleagues and within the community.”

Terry Kershaw – The head of the Africana Studies Department in the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences (A&S) was praised for exemplifying the Just Community principles of pursuing learning and scholarship, striving for excellence, practicing civility and promoting justice. His service included mentoring a graduate student in the Putting Retention First in the Zest for Excellence (PRIZE) Program; serving as co-advisor for the United Black Student Association (UBSA); and serving as an informal mentor for three junior faculty affiliated with his department. He serves on the Provost’s Diversity Council, the Provost’s Search Committee, and the Provost’s Task Force on Diversity. His campus outreach includes program planning with the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center and developing a community professorship in Africana Studies – a position that will coordinate programming between A&S, the Department of History and the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.

Nancy Paraskevopoulos – The student recipient of the Just Community Award was recognized for her work with UC’s Racial Awareness Program (RAPP) and for embracing the program’s mission of battling oppression through individual awareness and collective action. The English literature major, who graduated last winter, also was recognized for her own exploration of the conflict between Israel and Palestine through her travels with the Interfaith Peace-Builders program. Her leadership of the UC chapter of the Campus Antiwar Network (CAN) resulted in UC hosting the organization’s national conference in 2009. “Nancy focuses daily on promoting justice globally through her work in the Middle East and CAN, as well as locally through CAN and her involvement with RAPP, the UC Women’s Center, music and the arts,” says Rebecca Lehman, RAPP program coordinator.

Amitabh Raturi – The professor in the College of Business’ Department of Quantitative Analysis and Operations Management was praised for his vision in helping Cincinnati business professionals who were displaced by the recession. The first free Back to Business (B2B) Certificate Program was launched last summer to help Cincinnati’s displaced workers sharpen their skills and get an edge on the job search. A third cohort of the six-week program gets underway this spring. Numerous nominations supporting Raturi for the Just Community Award came from people who completed the program. “This outreach effort to serve others in the community who, after many years of faithful work, had lost their jobs in the great recession, could be considered as our vision of a local economic stimulus package,” says Interim College of Business Dean Ralph Katerberg. “Thanks to Amit’s vision, hard work and determination, many in our region now know that the UC College of Business has faculty and staff who care deeply for the welfare of others in the community and are willing to reach out and help.”

Barb Rinto – The director of the UC Women’s Center was praised for her work in celebrating the uniqueness of each individual by making the Women’s Center a welcoming place for all students regardless of gender, race, sexuality or religious identity. Her dedication to promoting social justice includes her service on the UC Diversity Council and serving as co-chair of the university-wide Diversity Plan Task Force, as well as her leadership with UC’s Women’s Initiative Network (WIN) to support gender equity in higher education. “Barb has actively worked on many policy changes that affect institutional barriers for women and other groups that face disparities and discrimination,” says UC Women’s Center Program Coordinator Kim Fulbright. “This specifically includes a strong dedication to LGBTQ students, staff and faculty.”