President’s Recognition Reception honors award recipients

Recipients of the President’s Medal for Social Embeddedness and the top multiple SUN Award for Individual Excellence were honored by ASU President Michael Crow at the President’s Recognition Reception and award ceremony April 16 in the Carson Ballroom of Old Main on the university’s Tempe campus.

The awards and award winners include:

SUN Award for Individual Excellence

The SUN Award for Individual Excellence is a peer recognition award that provides specific and immediate recognition to fellow employees for demonstrations of individual excellence in such areas as creative activity, continuous improvement, fostering cooperation, providing exemplary service, valuing diversity, and promoting ASU. During calendar year 2008, more than 2,400 SUN Award certificates were presented to ASU employees.

Four individuals were selected as ASU’s 2008 top multiple SUN Award recipients. They are:
• Christina Hernandez, Department of Student Engagement.
• Hwa-Wei “Dave” Lee, University Technology Office.
• Phouney Lopez, Department of Electrical Engineering.
• Luis Vasquez, Facilities Management.

President’s Medal for Social Embeddedness

Two teams received the President’s Medal for Social Embeddedness. This award recognizes ASU departmental, inter-departmental or multidisciplinary teams that have demonstrated excellence in identifying a community need or issue and fostering mutually supportive partnerships with Arizona communities to implement successful solutions.

The two teams are:
• Arizona Native Vote – Election
• Protection Project

Since the Indian right to vote has been recognized, Indian voters have faced many challenges in obtaining and protecting the fundamental right to vote. Even after Indians were granted citizenship in 1924, the right to vote was not extended to Arizona Indians until 1948, and English literacy tests prevented most Indians from participating in elections until 1970. Since then, many obstacles have prevented Indians from participating fully in the electoral process. The most recent assault on the Indian right to vote is the Arizona voter identification law, which resulted in a sharp decrease in Indian voters in 2006.

In 2008, the Indian Legal Clinic at the College of Law partnered with the Native American Bar Association of Arizona, the Inter-Tribal Council of Arizona, the Arizona Indian Gaming Association, and the National Congress of American Indians to develop the Arizona Native Vote – Election Protection Project. This project provides a resource to Arizona’s tribal communities and tribal members to ensure access to the polls and to prevent voter disenfranchisement. Fifty-three election protection volunteers assisted Indian voters on Election Day 2008, helping those who may otherwise have been denied the right to vote.

ASU team members include:
• Michael Carter, ASU law student.
• Ann Marie Downes, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law.
• Derrick Beetso, ASU law student.
• Sarah Cedarface, ASU law student.
• Mandy Cisneros, ASU law student.
• Alex Doss, ASU law student.
• Patty Ferguson-Bohnee, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law.
• Khia Grinnell, ASU law student.
• Joe Keene, ASU student.
• Ryan McPhie, ASU law student.
• Nicholas Natividad, ASU student.
• Judy Nichols, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law.
• Laurie Ralston, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law.
• Kate Rosier, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law.
• Joe Sarcinella, ASU law student.
• Suzanne Trujillo, ASU law student.
• Naomi White, ASU law student.
• Jennifer Williams, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law.

Community partners include:
• Wenona Benally, Native American Bar Association-Arizona.
• Diandra Benally, Native American Bar Association-Arizona.
• Jocelyn Billy, Navajo Nation.
• Loren Birdrattler, National Congress of American Indians-Native Vote.
• Chris Clark Deschene, Native American Bar Association-Arizona.
• Louis Denetsosie, Navajo Nation.
• Judy Dworkin, Native American Bar Association-Arizona.
• Reuben Elias, Gila River Indian Community.
• Jennifer Farley, National Native American Bar Association.
• Joseph Flies Away, Hualapai Tribe.
• Roxann Gallagher, Native American Bar Association-Arizona.
• Kaniatari:io Gilbert, Native American Bar Association-Arizona.
• Karen Hartman-Tellez, Election Protection Coalition.
• Ron Haven, Navajo Nation.
• Jonathan Howard, Arizona State Bar.
• Jonathan Jantzen, Tohono O’odham Nation.
• Jackie Johnson, Native American Bar Association-Arizona.
• Marianna Kahn, Navajo Nation.
• Ruth Khalsa, Native American Bar Association-Arizona.
• Yuri Kondo, Native American Bar Association-Arizona.
• Travis Lane, Inter-Tribal Council of Arizona.
• Peter Larson, Native American Bar Association-Arizona.
• Anthony Lee, White Mountain Apache Tribe.
• Jim LeValley, Native American Bar Association-Arizona.
• John Lewis, Inter-Tribal Council of Arizona.
• Sheila Morago, Arizona Indian Gaming Association.
• Sonia Nayeri, Native American Bar Association-Arizona.
• April Olson, Native American Bar Association-Arizona.
• Kerry Patterson, Native American Bar Association-Arizona.
• Javier Ramos, Native American Bar Association-Arizona.
• Perry Riggs, Native American Bar Association-Arizona.
• Denten Robinson, Native American Bar Association-Arizona.
• Ed Rubacha, Arizona State Bar.
• Heather Dawn Thompson, National Congress of American Indians-Native Vote.
• Alberta Tippeconnic, Inter-Tribal Council of Arizona.
• Steve Titla, Native American Bar Association-Arizona/San Carlos Apache Tribe.
• Nancy Williams Bonnett, Native American Bar Association-Arizona.
• Novaline Wilson, National Congress of American Indians-Native Vote.

The Graffiti Alley Community Engagement Project

The Graffiti Alley Community Engagement Project, also known as “Civil Disobedience,” is a collaboration between the Herberger College of the Arts, the School of Music, local graffiti and hip-hop artists, Future Arts Research, businesses in Phoenix and local residents. This urban conversation combines rap music, graffiti art, hip-hop culture and education.

In November, a diverse crowd of more than 800 people visited graffiti alley in Phoenix to see pieces by local graffiti writers, and break-dancing and disc-jockey performances by the Furious Styles crew sponsored by the Herberger College of the Arts. More than 120 of these visitors were ASU students enrolled in classes directly related to these artistic media. Another diverse group of more than 300 people, including 100 ASU students, gathered at the School of Music to hear a lively panel discussion of hip-hop culture in Phoenix.

Through exhibitions in alleys, roundtable discussions and custom Web sites, this project has cleaned up an alleyway in Phoenix, provided data for ASU student and faculty research, created a new public performance venue and elevated the status of hip-hop culture in the Phoenix community.

ASU team members include:
• Joe Baker, Herberger College of the Arts.
• Marilu Knode, Future Arts Research @ ASU.
• Richard Mook, School of Music.

Community partners include:
• Michael Amaya, graffiti artist.
• John Armstrong, Armstrong-Prior Inc.
• Joan Prior, Armstrong-Prior Inc.
• B-Boy House, Furious Styles Crew.
• Justus Samuel, rap artist.

For more information about the awards program, or to read the full abstracts, visit the Web site www:asu.edu/recognition.

Linda Uhley, linda.uhley@asu.edu
(480) 965-5089
Office of Human Resources