Seven Earn 2011 SU President's Diversity Awards

Pictured, from left: SU Interim Chief Diversity Officer Linda Morales, Ed Cowell, SU President Janet Dudley-Eshbach, Sujuan Ma, Dr. Althea Pennerman, Andrea Wheatley, Breanna Nunez and Nikki Dyer. Pictured on screen: Adriana Guerra.

SALISBURY, MD---Salisbury University recently honored seven members of the campus community with its 2011 President’s Diversity Awards.

They included undergraduate student Breanna Nunez, graduate student Sujuan Ma, non-exempt employee Andrea Wheatley, professional staff member Nikki Dyer, administrator Ed Cowell and faculty members Adriana Guerra and Dr. Althea Pennerman. The awards honor leaders in promoting diversity on campus.

In three years as a member of the Student Government Association and the Organization of Latin American Students, Nunez has created campuswide initiatives including the “Stop Hatin’” civility campaign and a “Soles 4 Souls” shoe drive to benefit local families.

Ma is a senior practice manager at the Business, Economic and Community Outreach Network (BEACON) in SU’s Franklin P. Perdue School of Business. An international graduate student from China’s Shanxi province, she provides administrative support for BEACON’s Bienvenidos a Delmarva program and volunteers for the Multicultural Student Services Office.

Wheatley, an administrative assistant for Multicultural Student Services, has been called that office’s “gentle comforter” and “mediator of students.” She serves as the office’s first contact for many students and families.

Dyer is the founding coordinator of services for students with disabilities and chair of the Student Affairs Professional Development Committee. She coordinated the University’s spring 2011 Strategic Planning Day.

Cowell, dean of students, has guided efforts to enhance SU’s New Student Experience program and add a Spirituality Center and Mediation Room to the Guerrieri University Center. As co-chair of the University’s Council for Student Success, he led a committee in submitting a TRiO grant application that earned SU $1.2 million in federal funds for supplemental academic support.

Guerra is on faculty at the Universities at Shady Grove, which partners with SU to offer a degree in respiratory therapy. She was nominated for her “enthusiasm, dedication and seemingly limitless energy.”

Pennerman, a member of SU’s Education Specialties faculty, is chair of the Samuel W. and Marilyn C. Seidel School of Education and Professional Studies Diversity Committee. Her curriculum includes classes in how future educators should respond to students with special needs. She also works with Wicomico County Public Schools students as part of the Academic Success through Active Partnerships with Schools (ASAPS) mentoring program and has advocated for improved teaching in critical needs areas of diversity.

For more information call 410-543-6030 or visit the SU Web site at www.salisbury.edu.