WSU 10th Annual Multicultural Convocation Honors

PULLMAN, Wash. — Four members of the Washington State University
community were honored recently during the 10th annual Multicultural
Student Services Convocation.

Those receiving awards were undergraduate students Luzviminda U.
Carpenter, Spokane, and Cecilia A. Martínez Yakima; graduate student Sharon
Mail Kanichy, Pullman, formerly of Neah Bay; and staff member Lucila Loera,
Pullman, formerly of Irvine, Calif.

Luzviminda U. Carpenter of Spokane, an English education major, received
both the Undergraduate Student Award from Multicultural Student Services
and the Council of Multicultural Student Presidents’ Multicultural Scholar
Award.

A graduate of Spokane’s Ferris High School, she is chair of the WSU Coalition
for Women Students and a student mentor in the university’s African
American Student Center. She is the daughter of Ronald B. and Mary D.
Carpenter, Spokane.

She has WSU scholarships from the Department of English, the College of
Education and Future Teachers of Color.

Cecilia A. Martínez of Yakima received the Leadership Award from the Council
of Multicultural Student Presidents.

The daughter of Mario Martínez and Ana F. Martínez Vásquez of Yakima, she
was born in San Salvador, El Salvador, in Central America. She immigrated with
her family to the U.S. in 1990.

She attended Yakima’s Washington Middle School, where she learned English.
She graduated from Eisenhower High School in Yakima and earned an
associate degree from Yakima Valley Community College before transferring to
WSU in 1998.

Martínez will graduate from WSU with double degrees, one in political science
and the other in Comparative American Cultures.

At WSU, she is active with Movimiento Estudiantil
Chicana/Chicano-M.E.Ch.A., Mujeres Unidas-MU, Children of Aztlan Sharing
Higher Education-CASHE, Semana de la Raza, McNair Program, and the
Multicultural Student Mentor Program.

A WSU McNair Scholar, she was honored at WSU as M.E.Ch.A. Mujer del
Año in
1998-1999 and as a recipient of the President’s Award. She has received
political science, Gabriel Cárdenas, and Coalition for Women Students
scholarships.

Sharon Mail Kanichy of Pullman, formerly of Neah Bay, received the Graduate
Student Award from Multicultural Student Services. She is a member of the
Makah Tribe.

A WSU history graduate, she is studying for a master of arts degree in
Education, Teaching and Learning and is pursuing teaching certification in
secondary education and endorsements in history, political science and
Spanish.

At WSU, she is a graduate assistant in Multicultural Retention Services and
co-coordinator of Multicultural Students. Her campus activities include those
with Ku-Au-Mah, the Native American Women’s Association.

She is a graduate of Neah Bay High School, has studied at Whitworth College
and is a graduate of The Evergreen State College. Her parents are Lynn
Denney of Neah Bay and Michael Mail of Taholah.

Receiving the Faculty/Staff Award from MSS was Lucila Loera, Pullman,
formerly of Irvine, Calif., career counselor and multicultural liaison in the WSU
Office of Career Services.

A graduate of the University of California, Irvine, and Irvine’s Woodbridge
High School, she holds a master’s degree in counseling psychology from
WSU.

The daughter of Evangelina and Ruben Loera of Irvine, Calif., she was honored
as a WSU graduate student as Woman of Distinction, as a MEChA Graduate
Student of the Year and with a WSU President’s Award.

Her WSU activities include the Chicana/o Latina/o Faculty & Staff Association
co-chair; the Washington Association for Multicultural Counseling and
Development treasurer and president-elect; Gamma Alpha Omega adviser; the
Coalition for Social Justice past associate director; former CAMARADAS
president; and creator of the Herrera-Loera Los Padres Memorial Society of
Latino/a Engineers and Scientists Scholarship Fund.

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