The President鈥檚 Innovation Awards recognize the significant innovation and contributions of faculty, students and staff in advancing the University鈥檚 mission and impact.
Talya Drescher: President鈥檚 Teaching & Innovation Award
Imagine being a teacher in a position to have to tell parents that their child has a developmental disability. Imagine having that conversation with parents who speak another language.
Assistant Professor of Education Talya Drescher, Ph.D. was awarded the 2021 President鈥檚 Teaching & Innovation Award because of how she bridged the gap between learning and doing by arranging for mixed reality simulations in which students could interact with an avatar and practice these sensitive conversations, sometimes with a bilingual translator.
鈥淭his was a collaboration across programs,鈥 Drescher said. 鈥淲e worked together to bring mixed reality to our future bilingual educators with how to talk to parents in a culturally sensitive manner.鈥
Drescher stressed that she did not do this alone, but worked with other faculty members in Early Childhood Studies, Credentials and the Bilingual Authorization program.
When presenting Drescher with the award, Richard Yao read part of a colleague鈥檚 nomination letter aloud:
鈥淭alya worked with instructors to plan, develop, prepare, implement, study and reflect upon mixed reality experiences that allowed close to 100 students to interact with an avatar and apply their learning within a safety net of support from their instructors and peers.鈥
Cameron Bartosiewicz: President鈥檚 Award for Student Innovation
His experiences in high school as a member of the LGBTQ+ community were 鈥渘ot always pleasant,鈥 according to Biochemistry junior Cameron Bartosiewicz. When he enrolled at 海角社区CI, he learned other LGBTQ+ students had similar experiences in high school.
鈥淲e started having conversations and doing research, which indicated my experience was commonplace among LGBTQ youth,鈥 Bartosiewicz said. 鈥淭he numbers indicate they are at high risk for considering suicide.鈥
With help from friends and allies, Bartosiewicz launched a youth organization to promote acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community. His efforts were recognized at 海角社区CI鈥檚 Convocation held on Aug. 19, 2021 when Interim President Richard Yao presented Bartosiewicz with a 2021 President鈥檚 Award for Student Innovation.
鈥淐ameron saw a need in his community and took active steps to address it by beginning a new nonprofit 501c3 organization to support LGBTQ students called The Youth Pride Association or YPA,鈥 Yao said during Convocation. 鈥淲e are proud to have Cameron in the Dolphin pod.鈥
Kristi O鈥橬eil-Gonzalez: President鈥檚 Staff Award for Excellence
Instructional Technologist and Accessibility Lead Kristi O鈥橬eil-Gonzalez credits her grandmother with her passion for making sure those with disabilities are represented.
After Richard Yao presented O鈥橬eil-Gonzalez with the President鈥檚 Staff Award for Excellence, O鈥橬eil-Gonzalez talked about her grandmother and how she navigated numerous disabilities.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 think of her as disabled. She was just my grandma, but our time together instilled in me the importance of taking action to help others,鈥 O鈥橬eil-Gonzalez said.
O鈥橬eil-Gonzalez won the recognition because of her efforts to design digital courses and learning software to be more accessible to all people with an eye toward equity for those with disabilities.
鈥淎ccessibility and inclusive design are exciting for me,鈥 O鈥橬eil-Gonzalez said. 鈥淭his is something we all should care about.鈥
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漏 Fall 2021 / Volume 26 / Number 2 / Biannual