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Jorge Sanchez Jr. and Edith Cullen receive Chancellor’s Awards for diversity and civility

Chancellor Collins recognizes diversity and civility at annual Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. tribute

  Edith Cullen is presented the 2017 Chancellor’s Award for Advancing Institutional Excellence in Civility by Chancellor Collins.
 

Edith Cullen is presented the 2017 Chancellor’s Award for Advancing Institutional Excellence in Civility by Chancellor Collins.

At the 29th annual tribute to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Chancellor Michael F. Collins announced that the 2017 Chancellor’s Award for Advancing Institutional Excellence in Diversity recipient is Jorge Sanchez Jr.,  director of client relations for Commonwealth Medicine and co-chair of the Commonwealth Medicine Cultural Diversity Committee. (Sanchez was unable to attend the event.) The 2017 Chancellor’s Award for Advancing Institutional Excellence in Civility was given to Edith Cullen, state contracts administrator for Financial Services and a member of the Diversity and Equal Opportunity Office’s sub-committee on civility.

Collins bestows the Chancellor’s Award for Advancing Institutional Excellence in Diversity annually upon an individual or group exemplifying the school’s diversity statement.

The Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Civility is given to an individual or group that best exemplifies the values described in the school’s civility statement.

“‘A beacon of civility.’ Edith, those are the words that one of your nominators chose to describe your presence among us, and your work as a relentless advocate for a culture of respect, dignity and kindness here at UMass Medical School,” Collins said to Cullen. “Your quiet leadership on this important issue—how we continue as an institution to build a culture of respect—has had an impact on the daily lives of those who work and study here.”

Preceding the Chancellor’s Award presentations, attendees heard from keynote speaker Dara Richardson-Heron, MD, CEO of YWCA USA, and congratulated the School of Medicine and Graduate School of Nursing students who were announced as recipients of the 2017 MLK Semester of Service Awards.

Chancellor Collins talks about meeting diversity challenges in health care and medical education in the video below.