An academic department chair and a senior undergraduate in the College of Arts and Sciences won 2011 University Diversity Awards from the Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs. The honors were presented for “significant contributions to the enhancement, support and/or furtherance of diversity on the campus and in the community.”
Terry Rhodes, professor and chair of the department of music, won the faculty award. In nominating her, Diversity Award committee member Josmell Perez said that the music department, under Rhodes leadership, has “added significant racial and ethnic diversity to the faculty.” Under-represented minorities comprise more than 10 percent of the tenured/tenure track faculty in the department of music today, up from 7 percent in 2009.
Andrew Lu ’11, a political science major with an academic minor in social and economic justice, won the Undergraduate Award. In nominating Lu, award committee member Connor Brady emphasized his participation on the Diversity Education Team in the Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs. “[Andrew] promoted conversations of staff and students to support all backgrounds,” Brady wrote. “These conversations are truly a part of the Carolina Way as he has encouraged others to accept and appreciate the diversity here.”