PULLMAN, Wash. — Wilhelmina O. Sarai-Clark was named the 2004 Woman of the Year at Washington State University’s annual Women’s Recognition Luncheon held Thursday (March 25) at the Compton Union Building.
Sarai-Clark taught dance movement at WSU from 1965-1992 and has remained active on the campus and in the community.
“Dance is an essential element of being human that gives a sense of community and creates a common thread to humanity,” said one nominator. “Sarai-Clark shows us that by becoming aware of our own dance and cultural background, we can learn to take advantage of the richness of the American mix of dance and cultures.”
Sarai-Clark has a doctoral degree in dance, anthropology and theater from the University of Wisconsin. She was a recipient of the WSU/University of Idaho 2004 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Distinguished Service Award.
An ordained deacon in the Episcopal Church, Sarai-Clark volunteers for the Koinonia House as Episcopal campus minister for WSU, where her ministry focuses on multiculturalism and diversity. She is a longtime member of WSU’s YWCA and has served on the President’s Commission on the Status of Women and the Association of Faculty Women.
Sarai-Clark has spent summers through the past decade working with Lakotah Sioux tribes in South Dakota and regularly volunteers in the Moscow-Pullman community.
Also honored at the luncheon were four Women of Distinction, whose awards had been previously announced: Marta Maria Maldonado, Beverly B. McConnell, Mary Sanchez-Lanier and Patricia Martin Whitefoot.
A Woman of Distinction honor also was presented to the late Jan Noel, who served as associate director of WSU’s Office of International Programs and chief officer of the Development Cooperation until her death in May 2003. Her husband accepted the award in her name.
