- DR. KING AWARD PRESENTED TO ACADEMIC LEADERS
- The Valparaiso University Provost's Office, under the leadership of Dr. Roy Austensen and Dr. Renu Juneja, will be honored for their efforts enhancing diversity on campus Jan. 19 during the University's 2009 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration.
Dr. Austensen, provost and vice president for academic affairs, and Dr. Juneja, associate provost, were selected as the 14th recipients of the University's Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Award, which is presented annually to recognize a person or group that has made significant and lasting contributions to the improvement of the racial climate of the campus and surrounding community.
"The Provost's Office, as a whole, reflects the criteria of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Award in terms of promoting and improving diversity on campus," said Jane Bello-Brunson, director of multicultural programs and co-chair of the MLK Award Selection Committee. "The commitment the Provost's Office has made to diversity over the past 17 years has had a far-reaching, long-term influence on our campus."
Bello-Brunson noted that commitment has included infusing more discussion of diversity into existing courses and encouraging the development of new courses addressing a host of diversity-related subjects, expanding Valparaiso's award-winning international studies and study abroad programs, sponsoring faculty workshops and discussion of diversity, and supporting initiatives of the University's Diversity Concerns Committee.
"Dr. Austensen and Dr. Juneja clearly exemplify a personal and professional commitment to diversity – a diversity of inclusiveness that goes beyond race and embraces all areas of diversity," Bello-Brunson said. "They are role models for valuing diversity on campus."
Dr. Austensen joined Valparaiso in 1992 as provost and also teaches courses on modern Europe, the development of Western culture and other subjects in the Department of History. Dr. Juneja, author of Caribbean Transactions: West Indian Culture in Literature, came to the University in 1978 and has taught courses in postcolonial literature, women's studies and cross-cultural studies.
Efforts by the Provost's Office to encourage greater global awareness on campus were essential in Valparaiso's selection as one of five institutions in the United States to receive the Senator Paul Simon Award for Campus Internationalization this year. The University's model approaches, exemplary practices and innovative efforts in international education are featured by NAFSA: Association of International Educators in its November report Internationalizing the Campus 2008: Profiles of Success at Colleges and Universities.
This fall, the Provost's Office also co-sponsored a Sikh Festival on campus with members of the region's Sikh community and Dr. Juneja has participated in delegations of University, business and community leaders to China and Nigeria.
The MLK Award will be presented to Drs. Austensen and Juneja during a 10 a.m. convocation Jan. 19 in the Chapel of the Resurrection on campus.
The University's annual celebration of Dr. King's legacy includes numerous activities that are open to the public Jan. 16 to 22. For more information about activities, visit the MLK Day Web site.
