MU Recognizes Contributions to Diversity

March 12th, 2014

By Jerett Rion

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Officials from the University of Missouri Chancellor’s Diversity Initiative have awarded three MU students, two faculty members and a student organization with the 2014 Inclusive Excellence Award. The award is given to individuals or groups who have made contributions to any area of diversity including gender, racial-ethnic background, language, religious belief, sexual orientation, disabilities and economic strata. This year’s recipients are:

• Bridget Botchway Bradley is a graduating senior in the MU School of Journalism studying strategic communication. She serves as an outreach assistant for Academic Retention Services at MU and is lead videographer for the Missouri Student Unions. Bradley also is a member of the Interactive Theatre Troupe in the MU Department of Theater, a member of the United Ambassadors Minority Recruit Team in the MU Office of Admissions and a mentor for high school girls in the Ladies P.A.S.S. Debutant Cotillion. She has plans to pursue her master’s degree in new media management next spring at Syracuse University and wants to help promote positive portrayals of underrepresented groups in television, print, and radio.
• Elizabeth Hunt is a graduate student in the educational and counseling psychology program in the MU College of Education and a graduate assistant at the MU International Center. She seeks to promote unity in diversity through her research and professional work with international students. One of her initiatives is raising awareness of the international student presence at MU through a blog on cultural differences and international perspectives of life at MU. She also works with a cross-cultural friendship program that matches new international students with American individuals and families. Hunt also has studied abroad in Rwanda and worked as a counseling intern at an HIV/AIDS clinic treating survivors of the genocide against the Tutsi that occurred in 1994.
• Jiangyun Zhu is a graduate student in the Department of Chemical Engineering in the MU College of Engineering. In addition to her work as a researcher in new technology, she also acts as a cultural educator and global volunteer. Zhu has been leading an adult Chinese class in the local Columbia Chinese Language School for more than a year. She also has conducted technology, environment and education-themed trips to Inner Mongolia Province, China; Haleyville, S.C.; and Detroit, Mich.
• Kathleen Quinn is the acting associate dean for rural programs and program director of the Area Health Education Center in the MU School of Medicine. She also is an adjunct assistant teaching professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine. Her career has focused on meeting the needs of rural and underserved Missourians by directing the MU Rural Track Pipeline Program, which aims to address the shortage of physicians in rural areas of the state.
• Robert Ross is the affinity relations coordinator and an instructor for Asian Affairs in the Mizzou Alumni Association (MAA). As the affinity relations coordinator, Ross works with traditionally underrepresented alumni and student groups to ensure meaningful and quality engagement experiences with MU. He co-authored the alumni association’s engagement plan for underrepresented groups and is the former president of the MAA Men’s Minority Network. He also received the Roy Wilkins Community Service Award from the Columbia Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 2010.
• Community 360 is a student organization that was founded by MU graduates Lauren Damico and Jaime Henry-White after they participated in a similar high school program in Kansas City. The organization emphasizes a lifestyle centered on inclusion and action. Members focus on social justice challenges and identify opportunities to affect change within the MU campus and community through daily interaction and dialogue with others.