---
title: Minority Achievement Awards
date: 2022-03-14T16:00:00-04:00
author: Mei Lu
canonical_url: "https://president.umd.edu/administration/commissions-task-forces-and-councils/the-presidents-commission-on-ethnic-minority-issues/minority-achievement-awards"
section: Pages
---
# Minority Achievement Awards


The President’s Commission on Ethnic Minority Issues (PCEMI) established Minority Achievement Awards to recognize faculty, staff, students, and individual units that have made outstanding contributions to the University’s equity efforts. The awards also recognize those who have worked to improve the racial climate on the College Park Campus.

Each year PCEMI presents these awards to individuals in each of several categories: (1) faculty, (2) exempt staff, (3) non-exempt staff, (4) undergraduate students, and (5) graduate students. Instructional and non-instructional units are also recognized. Nominees should be individuals or units that have made substantial contributions to the University’s goal of creating an institution of excellence through diversity.

To nominate someone or a unit for the 2018 Minority Achievement Awards please use these forms:


- [View and download 2018 Award Nomination Announcement pdf document](https://umd-pres.files.svdcdn.com/production/files/president/2018_PCEMI_Award_Nomination_Announcement_Instructions_final.pdf?dm=1755892213)


- [View and download the 2018 Nomination Form Word Document](https://umd-pres.files.svdcdn.com/production/files/president/2018_PCEMI_Nomination_Form_final.docx?dm=1755892212)


Or you may make a nomination through the [2018 PCEMI Minority Achievement Awards Nomination Form](https://www.cognitoforms.com/UMD6/_2018PCEMIMinorityAchievementAwardsNominationForm).

For questions regarding nominations or the May 4, 2018 Awards Ceremony, please contact Mr. Jim Glenn, PCEMI Graduate Assistant, at <jhg3@umd.edu>, or Dr. Kim Nickerson, PCEMI Co-Chair, at 301-405-7599.

Please submit nominations by Monday, April 2, 2018 to Drs. Sharon Fries-Britt and Kim Nickerson, c/o Jim Glenn at <jhg3@umd.edu>.

The annual PCEMI awards ceremony will take place on Friday, May 4th from 3:00 P.M. to 5:00 P.M.in the Special Events Room in McKeldin Library.



### 2018 Winners

**Saba Tshibaka**  
*Undergraduate Award* - College of Behavioral and Social Sciences

**Latisha Judd**  
*Graduate Student Award* - College of Agriculture and Natural Resources

**LaWanda Kamalidiin**  
*Exempt Staff* - A. James Clark School of Engineering

**Laura Anderson Wright**  
*Exempt Staff* - Office of General Counsel

**Bonnie Thornton Dill**  
*Faculty Award* - Professor and Dean, College of Arts and Humanities

**Ana Patricia Rodríguez**  
*Faculty Award* - Associate Professor, College of Arts and Humanities

**The Critical Race Initiative**  
*Non-Instructional Unit Award* - Department of Sociology

**Asian American Studies Program**  
*Instructional Unit Award* - Office of Undergraduate Studies

**James McShay**  
*Special Award for Leadership and Advocacy*  
Associate Director, Multicultural Involvement and Community Advocacy


### 2017 Winners

**Faculty:**   
Dr. Darryll Pines

**Exempt Staff:**   
Gloria Aparicio Blackwell

**Non-Exempt Staff:**   
Timea Webster

**Non-Instructional Unit Award:**   
The Bahá’í Chair for World Peace  
The Consortium on Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

**Graduate Student:**  
Whitney Dixon

**Undergraduate Student:**   
Lauryn Froneberger