Impact Awards honor outreach, service

Impact Awards honor outreach, service

BY LINDSEY FIELDER
Rice News staff

Rice students, faculty and staff have always given of themselves for the betterment of the university community. Since 1997, the Women’s Resource Center has recognized such people with the Impact Awards.

The awards are given annually to men and women at Rice who demonstrate service to the campus and community, show involvement and participation in student life and activities at Rice and beyond, work to make a positive impact by raising awareness of women’s issues and serve as role models in the empowerment of women.

Eight people were honored at this year’s ceremony. Below are their names and excerpts from the remarks made about each winner at the annual awards dinner:

Faculty award winners
• Rebekah Drezek, the Stanley C. Moore Assistant Professor in Bioengineering and in electrical and computer engineering
“Her enthusiasm for her job, as well as her ability to maintain a balanced lifestyle, inspires women to do the same. Not only is she a hardworking professor, she is also an active and integral part of the Rice community. She helps all of us realize that it is possible to have a successful career without sacrificing the smaller, but nonetheless important, parts of our lives.”

• Yildiz Bayazitoglu, the Harry S. Cameron Professor in Mechanical Engineering
“She has been described by students as one who stands out in her tireless support of women engineers. So many young women cite her as key to keeping them going and allowing them to succeed in what is traditionally a very male-dominated field. She is compassionate to her students, gifted in engineering, possesses the interest, enthusiasm and intelligence of a true leader, and utilizes all of these gifts to make an impact on the empowerment of women in our world.”

Staff winners
• Martha Alexander, LANP administrator in electrical and computer engineering
“Her nominators honored her initiation of the Rice University Postdoctoral Association and her continued work with making Rice a home to international students through activities such as teaching English and being the student sponsor of Institute of International Education.”

• Eusebio Franco, custodial and grounds manager in facilities, engineering and planning
“Eusebio’s staff consists of more than 75 percent women. He has set up English as a second language classes and ‘Step Up’ for employees to further their education and encourages them to take the citizenship test. Mr. Franco gives his employees paid time to attend computer classes and Rape Aggression Defense classes. In addition, he has set standards for custodians by developing the cleanology courses and is a board member to International Executives Housekeeping Association.”

Undergraduate award winners
• Smita Das, Hanzen College
“Her involvement at Rice includes Rice for Peace, Rice Student Volunteer Program and the Rice chapter of Amnesty International. She has led Amnesty International as president, organizing events such as Stop Violence Against Women Week that brought Students Organized Against Rape (SOAR) and the Women’s Resource Center together for the sake of raising awareness of domestic violence and related issues. The week of events focused on educating Rice students on ways to be advocates for victims of violence.”

• Kenda Hartley, Lovett College
“In addition to being the co-president of SOAR, she does cancer research at
M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and volunteers in the hospital with the terminally ill patients themselves. With SOAR, she is in the process of organizing a support program for victims of sexual assault. She hopes to start a 24-hour campus help line for these victims.”

• Inna Husain, Baker College
“For the past three years, Inna has dedicated herself to encouraging women to take control of their bodies through better understanding of early detection practices and the resources available to them through a combination of volunteer work and independent research. Her commitment to breast cancer awareness has taken her not only into the Houston area but also abroad; Inna conducted a study project in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, to investigate the ways in which culturally diverse women deal with breast cancer.”

• Sierra Villareal, Will Rice College
“Sierra is president of Rice for Life and has been moved by her work there to lead 11 Rice students to march in the National March for Life in Washington, as well as training at the Crisis Pregnancy Center to counsel women about unplanned pregnancies. In these positions, as well as with the Houston Coalition for Life, Sierra works to defend the rights of women.”