PULLMAN, Wash. — Washington State University Martin Luther King Jr. Distinguished Service Awards have been presented to an alumnus, who is a Board of Regents member; a graduate student; an undergraduate student; and a faculty member.
The honors were presented Jan. 19 during the university’s annual celebration held in Beasley Performing Arts Coliseum.
According to Kathy Potter, MLK awards committee chair and WSU College of Veterinary Medicine admissions director, the awards winners are:
Ken Alhadeff, a WSU alumnus and member of the university’s Board of Regents. A Seattle business leader and philanthropist, his nominators praised the impact he had made on the WSU College of Education Future Teachers of Color program. One example is the Feb. 1998 recruitment event for the program, during which he pledged up to $6,000 in scholarship support for every student present, if they graduate from the teacher preparation program, complete their student teaching and become teachers.
Dwayne A. Mack, a WSU history doctoral student. He is coordinator of the university’s Talmadge Anderson Heritage House, an on-campus facility — including library and art gallery — created for the cultural and educational enlightenment of African Americans at WSU. In his coordinator’s role, he promotes institutional programs that advance educational opportunities for students of color, say his nominators.
Rafael Reyes, a WSU undergraduate student from Wapato. A 1994 graduate of Wapato High School, he is a WSU senior in mechanical engineering. The son of Maximino and Maria del Socorro Reyes of Wapato, he is a leader of the university’s student Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and Society of Latino Engineers and Scientists organizations. Nominators praise him for creating the annual visit to WSU by Yakima Valley high school students, and for serving as a tutor and high school equivalency program adviser.
Victor Villanueva Jr., director of composition in the Department of English. His nominators say he has made issues of race, class and literacy his research focus. His award-winning book, “Bootstraps: From an American Academic of Color,” has inspired examination of race, class and voice by researchers and teachers nationally, they say. Successful in attracting graduate students of color to the English Department, he mentors junior faculty and students of color.
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