Nominations Sought for 4th Annual Luminaria Awards

The UNM Divi­sion for Equity and Inclu­sion seeks nom­i­na­tions for the 4th Annual Pres­i­den­tial Lumi­naria Awards. Recip­i­ents of the Pres­i­den­tial Lumi­naria Awards demon­strate an exem­plary com­mit­ment to address­ing diver­sity, equity, inclu­sion, or social jus­tice at the Uni­ver­sity of New Mex­ico and/or in the New Mexico.

In New Mex­ico, lumi­nar­ias are used to “light the way”. The word lumi­naria means a body that gives light. It also is a per­son of promi­nence or bril­liant achieve­ment. The Lumi­naria Awards rec­og­nize indi­vid­u­als and orga­ni­za­tions that have lit the path in areas of diver­sity, equity, inclu­sion or social jus­tice. Their com­mit­ment can be evi­dent in recruit­ment and reten­tion of under­rep­re­sented groups; teach­ing, research and/or ser­vice; mul­ti­cul­tural or cul­tural aware­ness pro­gram­ming; social jus­tice orga­niz­ing, com­mu­nity out­reach or sim­i­lar activities.

Nom­i­na­tions can be made for the fol­low­ing award categories:

Fac­ulty Award: Up to two (2) awards
Staff Award: Up to two (2) awards
Student/Student Orga­ni­za­tion Awards: Up to two (2) awards
Com­mu­nity Orga­ni­za­tion Award: One (1) award

Nom­i­na­tions may be sub­mit­ted by col­leagues, peers, super­vi­sors or advis­ers (in the case of stu­dent nom­i­nees) who rec­og­nize the sig­nif­i­cance of the nominee’s work. Mul­ti­ple nom­i­na­tors can sup­port an individual’s nom­i­na­tion. Nom­i­na­tion let­ters of sup­port should clearly iden­tify in detail how the nom­i­nee meets each of the fol­low­ing criteria:

How does this nom­i­nee demon­strate long­stand­ing com­mit­ment to address­ing diver­sity, equity, inclu­sion, or social jus­tice at the Uni­ver­sity of New Mex­ico and/or in New Mex­ico? Pro­vide spe­cific exam­ples that demon­strate this nominee’s work in diver­sity, equity, inclu­sion or social justice.

How does this nominee’s effort on behalf of diver­sity, equity, inclu­sion or social jus­tice go above and beyond the rou­tine expec­ta­tions of his/her job or project at UNM and/or in New Mexico?

The 4th Annual Pres­i­den­tial Lumi­naria Awards and Diver­sity Cel­e­bra­tion Fundrais­ing Din­ner is held dur­ing the spring semes­ter, at the Albu­querque Con­ven­tion Cen­ter. Award recip­i­ents with be noti­fied in late March 2013.

Com­plete nom­i­na­tions must be sub­mit­ted by March 1 and must include:

Click here for online nom­i­na­tion form. Nom­i­na­tion form may be sub­mit­ted online or printed and hand-delivered or mailed.

Signed letter(s) of sup­port may be uploaded, hand-delivered, or mailed (post­marked by 3/1/13) to:

Jozi De Leon, VP for Equity and Inclu­sion
Divi­sion for Equity and Inclu­sion: Lumi­naria Nom­i­na­tion
1 Uni­ver­sity of New Mex­ico

Scholes Hall, Room 250
MSC05 3400

Albu­querque, NM 87131–0001

2012 Recip­i­ents
Fac­ulty Awards: Nancy Lopez, asso­ciate pro­fes­sor, Depart­ment of Soci­ol­ogy; and Tryphe­nia Peele-Eady, assis­tant pro­fes­sor, Depart­ment of Lan­guage, Lit­er­acy and Socio­cul­tural Studies

Stu­dent Award: Ife Ambessah Hamp­ton, soci­ol­ogy major; and Jor­don John­son, Ph.D. can­di­date in Amer­i­can studies

Stu­dent Orga­ni­za­tion Awards: Junior Sci­en­tist Out­reach Pro­gram and the Asso­ci­a­tion for the Advance­ment of Minori­ties in Med­i­cine (AAMA)

Com­mu­nity Orga­ni­za­tion Award: Young Women United

2011 Recip­i­ents

Fac­ulty Award: Mar­garet E. Mon­toya, pro­fes­sor of law

Staff Award: George Williams, Jr., Acces­si­bil­ity Resource Center

Stu­dent Award: Stephanie Tran, Med­ical student

Stu­dent Orga­ni­za­tion Award: The Project for New Mex­ico Grad­u­ates of Color (PNMGC)

Com­mu­nity Orga­ni­za­tion Award: Somos Un Pueblo Unido

2010 Recip­i­ents

Fac­ulty Awards: Alfred Math­ew­son, pro­fes­sor of law; Gabriel Sanchez; polit­i­cal science

Staff Awards: Cus­to­dial Staff from Biol­ogy (Toby Lucero, Phil Aragon, Mar­tin Jaramillo, & Mag­dalena Vela); Christo­pher Ramirez, project assis­tant, Office of Equity and Inclusion

Stu­dent Award: Michelle Richardson

Stu­dent Orga­ni­za­tion Award: Queer Straight Alliance & LGBTQ Cen­ter (Adam Quin­tero, Jef­frey Waldo, & David Griffith)

Com­mu­nity Orga­ni­za­tion Award: The Native Health Initiative

Media Con­tact: Car­olyn Gon­za­les (505) 277‑5920; email: cgonzal@unm.edu