2008 Scholarly Excellence in Equity and Diversity (SEED) Award Recipients
2008 GRADUATE SEED AWARDS
Trecia Pottinger is a Ph.D. candidate in American studies and holds a 2008-09 Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship. Her thesis topic is “Rethinking Race, Class, and Space on Philadelphia’s Main Line: Black Suburbanization in Ardmore, PA.” Her research focus includes U.S. urban and suburban history, city and regional planning history, and the dynamics of race, class, and immigration in U.S. metropolitan areas.
Aeleah Soine is a Ph.D. candidate in history and holds a 2008-09 University of Minnesota Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship. Aeleah’s thesis topic is “From Nursing Sisters to a Sisterhood of Nurses: German Nurses and Professionalization, 1836-1918.” Her research focus is the intersection of gender ideologies and transnational frameworks, drawing upon ongoing conversations of transnationalism and gender analysis and revisiting classic scholarship on professionalization and class formation in light of archival work on nurses’ activities and ideologies in multiple national settings.
2008 UNDERGRADUATE SEED AWARDS
President's SEED Award for Outstanding Scholar-Activism ($2500 award)
Jesus-Estrada-Perez is a second semester senior majoring in cultural studies in the College of Liberal Arts. Jesus tries to involve his coursework with community service whenever possible to accelerate his academic achievement. He has volunteered and conducted research at La Escuelita, a n afterschool program in Minneapolis for Latino kids. He has also helped mentor incoming freshmen by being a Multicultural Center for Academic Excellence Ambassador here at the University. Jesus furthered his community involvement and academic cross - over work by conducting research on Lation parents living in the Twin Cities.
President's SEED Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement ($2500 award)
Eikoku Ikeno is a first semester senior double majoring in Asian Languages and Literature and History in the College of Liberal Arts. Currently, he is working on his senior project, a historical novella, which explores the issue of the Japanese colonial occupation of Korea. Community involvement is an integral part of Eikoku's college career: the majority of his community service has come through the University YMCA, which has not only given him myriad opportunities to serve the community, raningin from tutoring inner-city schools, going on alternative spring break trips to study social justice issues, to going to Japan as a representative of the Minneapolis Metro YMCA, but has also taught him the indispensable skill of reflecting and learning from all of his activities.
Sue W. Hancock SEED Award for Leadership in Equity and Diversity ($1000 award)
Desiree Abu-Odeh is a junior in the College of Biological Sciences' honors program majoring in neuroscience. She was a Multicultural Center for Academic Excellence Ambassador, a 2008 McNair Scholar and a Midwest Campus Compact Citizen (M3C) Fellow. She has volunteered at Fairview-University of Minnesota Medical Center and currently volunteers as a tutor for the Multicultural Family Literacy Program. These volunteer experiences have helped her learn how to communicate effectively across age, cultural and socioeconomic barriers. Desiree hopes to someday become a research physician, providing health care to people of all cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.
Judith Chan is a senior in School of Nursing. At the University, Judith is actively involved in closing cultural gaps between international students and their families and their new environment by being part of International Outreach and China Outreach Ministries. In her travels to Ukraine, she served at the Hope Center to heal and help Ukranian children with social, physical, emotional and psychological problems. Judith hopes to become a nurse, serving poor, abused and neglected populations underserved by the health care system.
Sarah Choy is a senior majoring in Philosophy and English in the College of Liberal Arts. Her academic work is focused on her two majors as well as gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender studies, gender, women and sexuality studies, and American Sign Language courses. She is an active member in the Undergraduate Journal of Philosophy, English Undergraduate Studies Committee,, Minnesota Rainbow Alliance for the Deaf, and Mu Daiko Theater. In addition, she works as a tutor in the American Sign Language Departement as the sole tutor for approximately 800 students.
Dionne Dillard is a junior majoring in political science and African American and African studies in the College of Liberal Arts, where her studies merge political science with issues of race, social structures, equity, and diversity. She participates in both the Multicultural Civic Engagement Program and Martin Luther King Jr. program, and also works for the Urban League, where she is the head of a program on cultural awareness in the community and hleped to create a charter school. Her career aspiration is to become an attorney.
Angela Haeny is a junior majoring in psychology in the College of Liberal Arts. Her academic work is focused on clinical psychology, with additional work in addiction studies and youth studies. Angela is very involved in the local community by being a Waite House activity leader where she helps diverse Minneapolis youth understand the importance of education and service work. She also coordinates a youth leadership class at an alternative school and volunteers at Healing House, a domestic inpatient treatment center in Minneapolis.
Daniel Martig is a senior double-majoring in biochemistry in the College of Biological Sciences and Asian languages and literatures in the College of Liberal Arts. Daniel's yearlong study abroad experience, in his birth country of Korea, focused on the Korean attitude toward adoptees such as himself through involvement with the Mentors Club and volunteering at his Korean adoption agency, where he assisted with infant care and English translation. His involvement in Korean culture camps shows young adoptees that they can achieve a unified identity by actively discovering their heritage.
Angelina Nguyen is a senior majoring in political science and economics in the College of Liberal Arts. She teaches English and basic skills to immigrants and refugees at the Lincoln Adult Educaton Center, and is state representative Cy Thao's campaign manager, working to encourage voters from his district, especially low-income minority voters, to become involved in the democratic process. In winter 2008, she will travel to Vietnam to conduct a research project on labor rights against the backdrop of the country's recent economic development. Angelina hopes to pursue a career in public service.
Jasmine Omorogbe is a junior in the University Honors Program majoring in communication studies in the College of Liberal Arts. She is a Student Ambassador for both the Multicultural Center for Academic Excellence and CLA. Jasmine is vice president of Voices Merging, a student organization dedicated to the art of spoken word and promoting the urban arts in the Twin Cities. She has performed and taught workshops throughout Minnesota, inspiring youth and adults to express themselves through written and performance art.
Anh Tran is a senior double-majoring in neuroscience and psychology in the College of Biological Sciences and College of Liberal Arts with the goal of becoming a medical doctor and public health advocate. Anh co-founded the University of Minnesota student group Biology Without Borders. With this group, she has had the opportunity to volunteer all around the world, including recent trip to Tanzania to raise awareness about diabetes. She also volunteers locally at the Augsburg Campus Kitchen and Fairview Hospital.
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