News

A professor, staff member, graduate student and undergraduate received the President's Diversity Award this week for their work in promoting opportunities for underrepresented groups on campus. Portland State's Diversity Action Council honored the four at a reception. They are:

• Susan Danielson, associate professor of English, has been involved in diversity initiatives for years, including her efforts in the early 1990s to help create tenure-track posts in African-American literature, gender studies, ethnic studies and cultural studies. She also has been involved with Multnomah County Library's Everybody Reads and other community programs.
• Lynda Pullen is student adviser in the Graduate School of Education's International Teacher Licensure Program that helps international educators obtain their Oregon teaching license. She has advised more than 350 students from diverse backgrounds navigate the difficult and sometimes bureaucratic path to become a teacher.
• Marjorie McGee is a doctoral student in the School of Social Work and a graduate research assistant at the Regional Research Institute. Her focus has been to build knowledge that will advance understanding and treatment of persons with disabilities. She founded the Women with Disabilities Health Equity Coalition.
• Nate Salazar, who has a Mexican and Yaqui background, has helped develop a new Social Work undergraduate program that assists faculty and students in organizing and attending social justice and diversity activities.