2009 Living Our Values Awards

Oct. 26, 2009

Dear Colleagues and Students:

I am pleased to announce the recipients of the 2009 Living Our Values Awards.

These awards honor University of California, Irvine staff, faculty and students whose actions best embody the university’s values of respect, intellectual curiosity, integrity, commitment, empathy, appreciation and fun. After careful consideration, four individuals and three teams have been selected.

Individual award recipients are Rose Jacobs, director, medical staff administration, UC Irvine Medical Center, for her commitment to the medical staff and adherence to campus values in all aspects of her work; Randy Black, director, Office of Research Development, for his multifaceted contributions to UC Irvine’s efforts to generate extramural funding; Julia Reinhard Lupton, English professor and director, Humanities Core Course, for her innovative scholarship, research, teaching and community outreach; and Oracio G. Sanchez ’09, for leadership in student government, ethnic student organizations, Greek life and the gay community.

The staff team award goes to the UCI Stars, for quilting on behalf of numerous charitable causes; members are Lisa Anderson, Lisa Cornish, Noriko Low, Lin Nguyen and Melissa Falkenstien, student housing; Mary Chappell-Davee and Patricia Price, academic affairs; Cindy Fern, physical sciences; Nancy Minear, student affairs; Stacey Murren, scheduling & conference services; Marika Walter, Developmental Biology Center; Susan Bertram, graduate division; Nancy Gasparotti, registrar/SAIS; Christine Dacanay and Jennifer Cartnal, parking & transportation services; and Rachel Maus, founding member.

Winners of the student team awards are 1) Olive Tree Initiative founders, for their efforts to better understand Israeli-Palestine conflicts and educate the campus and external communities. Members include Ali Malik, Amanda Naoufal, Dana Ballout, Daniel Wehrenfennig, Isaac Yerushalmi, Kate Keith, Moran Cohen, Omar Bustami, Paul Maguire, Sally Mouakkad, Sameera Ali, Sepi Termechi, Shahrooz Shahandeh, Evonne Liew and Alexandre Schmitt; and 2) the UC Irvine Outreach Clinics student board members, for establishing a student-run health clinic in Santa Ana to provide healthcare to Orange County’s uninsured. Members include Negin Agange, Steven R. Chan, Borna Dabiri, Samia Ghaffar, Glenn Robert Gookin, Caroline King, Jacqueline King, Jody Lin, Jennifer Nicole Manss, Charitha D. Reddy, Karina Inez Salazar, Bradley Lynn Stoker and Shannon Toohey.

I’d like to congratulate all the individuals and teams submitted for consideration. They were nominated by colleagues who found inspiration in their contributions to our community, with many providing such exemplary service that it made the choice of our finalists extraordinarily difficult. Award recipients and an honor roll of nominees can be viewed here.

Thanks to all of you who submitted candidates. Your efforts have shown how truly alive our values are at UCI. I look forward to your nominations for the 2010 Living Our Values Awards.

Chancellor Michael Drake