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2007
Diversity Award winners' biography
Graciela Calderon -
Individual Adult
Graciela Calderon has been an
educator in the Tempe Elementary School District for over 34 years.
She is currently a 4th grade teacher at Frank Elementary School, where
she exemplifies a commitment to diversity by the multicultural
curriculum she has developed to teach her students to value and respect
diversity. In her classroom every student's heritage is celebrated
and respected. Parents, aunts, uncles, cousins and siblings all
participate either by being a speaker, donating foods, or by being part
of the audience as the students perform. Mrs. Calderon teaches her
students songs, poems and dances, which they perform in front of large
groups. In a time when some students are absent often, Mrs.
Calderon's class consistently has perfect or near perfect attendance
year after year. Mrs. Calderon makes the time to teach her
students that learning about others and developing relationships with
them is what matters in life. Valuing and accepting each student's
diversity whether ethnically, economically, or academically has given
each student the confidence they need to succeed in everyday life.
Dr. Mark Duplissis -
Individual Adult
Dr. Mark Duplissis is an Assistant
Vice Principal at Corona del Sol High School. Corona has a
population of approximately 2,900 students from many countries.
Dr. Duplissis fairly and amicably works with all of these students
regardless of race, creed, religious preference, or sexual orientation.
Dr. Duplissis has been especially supportive and instrumental in the
Jewish Student Union, the Black Student Union, the Gay/Straight
Alliance, the National Junior Honor Society and the Unity Club. He
has been the sponsor and facilitator of other clubs such as the Red
Cross Club, which he ran for its first year. In addition to these
activities, Dr. Duplissis has been an essential support for the Best
Buddies Club, which is the world's largest non-profit organization that
provides one-to-one friendships and integrated employment opportunities
for people with intellectual disabilites. Dr Duplissis has
promoted the Best Buddies Program at Corona, making sure that the
members have fund raising opportunities and meeting space. Dr.
Duplissis does a wonderful job of ensuring that all members of the
Corona del Sol community are treated with respect, dignity, and equal
representation in the student body.
Colleen Jennings-Roggensack -
Individual Adult
Colleen Jennings-Roggensack is the
Executive Director of Public Affairs and Assistant Vice President for
Cultural Affairs at Arizona State University. She has artistic,
fiscal, and administrative responsibility for two cultural facilities -
ASU Gammage and Kerr Cultural Center - with additional responsibility
for Sun Devil Stadium and Wells Fargo Arena for non-athletic activities
including concerts as well as commencement and convocation exercises.
Since 1992, under Colleen's leadership, ASU has become a foremost
commissioner of new work by both emerging and established artists.
Colleen's lifelong commitment to diversity and outreach has led ASU to
new partnerships with the Latino, African-American, Native American,
Asian, disabled, LGBT, and other communities throughout Central Arizona.
Colleen has created and partnered on numerous projects that show her
commitment to Diversity. In 1994, "Dancers of the Dreaming"
project brought together Native peoples from Australia and North America
for an exchange of dance, music and Pow Wows. In 1997, Colleen
developed the "Drawing the Lines Festival," to draw connections between
traditional and contempory Native arts. In 2000 Colleen partnered
with 14 different Asian communities to develop and present A3: Asia,
Arizona and the Arts, a celebration of Asian, Asian American and Pacific
Rim cultures. Most recently Colleen has collaborated on Arte es
Amor, a year-long celebration of Latino arts and culture presented
throughout Tempe and ASU. Colleen's leadership extends from
bringing Broadway shows to ASU and into our community to outreaching to
the Maricopa County Estrella Jail, where she has worked in partnership
with Sheriff Joe Arpaio to help reduce recidivism rates among women
through an innovative arts program entitled "Journey Home".
Colleen's mission of "Connecting Communities" opens up intercultural
communication through the arts.
Katie Poirier - Individual
Youth
Katie Poirier is a senior at Coronal
del Sol High School. Katie has been involved in the diversity
program at Corona since she was a freshman. Katie has been a
student leader in the Unity Club's Awareness day program which is held
twice a year. She has been a student leader for three years and as
a senior has taken on the job of trainer for the 15 new student leaders
this year. Katie is involved in Corona's diversity camp, Aztectown,
where she was a counselor for the 30 students who attended. Katie
has been president of the Best Buddies Club for the past two years,
where she works tirelessly to pair up students from the mainstream with
students in the special needs area. Katie has organized man fun
activities on the weekends for the members of this organization.
In addition, Katie volunteers her time to the Gay/Straight Alliance club
on campus. Katie is a student leader who not only understands the
need for tolerance and acceptance of others, but has become a role model
and a diversity instructor on the Corona del Sol campus.
Salimeh Hobeheidar -
Individual Youth
Salimeh Hobeheidar demonstrates her
commitment to diversity in the City of Tempe as a 3 year member of her
high school's Stand & Serve club. Through her involvement in the
club, Salimeh volunteers many hours at community events and serves as a
peer educator in the Tempe middle schools. This past year Salimeh
volunteered at the Tempe Tardeada, a Hispanic festival, where she ran
the arts and crafts booth along with other Stand and Serve members, and
she also volunteered for the Legacy Foundation's "Backpack Buddies"
garage sale fundraiser where she raised school funds for underprivileged
students. In another role, Salimeh has been a leader and educator
to her peers. Every week Salimeh and another peer educator go to
McKemy Middle School to host a Stand and Serve program where she teaches
the students about respecting all humans, especially themselves.
In the summer Salimeh was involved with the Stand and Serve program at
the Escalante and Westside Community Centers by being a peer educator to
6th - 8th graders for four weeks. She taught them the importance
of diversity, unity and respect. Finally, Salimeh volunteered her
time to organize younger peers to gather at the Arizona Capitol for a
Domestic Violence discussion with AZ State Representatives during the
month of October.
Foundation for Inter-Cultural
Dialogue - Community Group/Organization
The Foundation for Inter-Cultural
Dialogue (FID) is a Tempe-based organization whose mission is to promote
dialogue, mutual respect, and collaboration within Tempe's multicultural
community. The FID actively seeks to increase public awareness,
and appreciation of our rich, multicultural heritage and to create
venues that foster friendship, understanding, and respect through
educational, social, and community service events. FID also
sponsors student organizations at ASU and U of A to increase
multicultural awareness on college campuses. FID's activities
allow people to learn about different cultures, socialize, and
experience other cultures. They have coordinated the "Exploring
Faiths and Cultures Seminar Series", which brings speakers representing
different cultural and religious groups to speak to the community.
To date speakers have represented Catholicism, Christian Science, B
aha'I Faith, West African Ifa Tradition, the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-Day Saints, and the Greek Orthodox Church. The FID has
coordinated panel discussions and seminars - all focused on the
necessity of inter-cultural dialogue. In addition, the FID has
hosted social events such as sponsoring the Whirling Dervishes of Rumi
at ASU's Gammage Auditorium, and has continued to host their annual
Interfaith Dialogue Dinners.
Tempe Tardeada Advisory Board
- Community Group/Organization
The Tardeada Advisory Board has been
advocating for and celebrating Tempe's Hispanic history for over eight
years. The Tempe Tardeada mission is "To identify and recognize
the Hispanic historical roots of Tempe and educate the community with a
celebration of the Hispanic culture." The members of the board
began as a volunteer committee is 1998, working with the Tempe
Historical Museum on their "Barrios" exhibit. Out of that exhibit
was born the Tempe Tardeada, a festival celebrating Tempe's
Hispanic culture and history. The Tardeada has grown into one of
the state's premier Hispanic celebrations. The Tardeada festival
features cultural music and dance, along with community information, the
museum's Family Albums exhibit, food and activities for children.
In addition, two scholarships are presented to Tempe teens, and the
youth of Tempe participate in the Tardeada Coloring Contest. In
May 2005 the Mayor and City Council officially created the Tempe
Tardeada Advisory Board out of the volunteer committee. The board
is currently working on the 9th Annual Tempe Tardeada, which will take
place on Sunday, October 14th, 2007.
The "Tempe 10" - Community
Group/Organization
The "Tempe 10" consists of ten very
courageous men - Pedro Amaya, Randy Bologna, Ricardo Bustoz, Joe
Corrales, Daniel Dominguez, Edward Fernandez, Ruben Figueroa, Armando
Gonzalez, Manuel Navarro, and Raul Trevino. These individuals
displayed courage, stamina, perseverance, and tolerance on the job for
many years in order to change their working environment to a bias-free
workplace. By speaking up against workplace discrimination, these
employees contributed to many positive changes for current and future
City of Tempe employees.
Kyrene Middle School -
Educational- Organization
Kyrene Middle School facilitates
programs throughout the school year that demonstrates its commitment to
diversity. In the fall, the school designates fifty eighth grade
students to participate in their annual Minitown camp. The focus
of this camp is designed to lay the groundwork for students of different
backgrounds to begin to better understand themselves and others.
They learn understanding, and a celebration of diversity. Once the
students return from camp they serve as leaders on campus for follow up
diversity activities scheduled throughout the year. Last year
Kyrene Middle School hosted its first annual multicultural celebration,
which included several cultural presentations throughout the month of
February. For this current school year, these student-led
activities have been expanded to include producing and posting diversity
messages throughout the school cafeteria, a school-wide diversity poetry
contest, producing a diversity awareness commercial for the school's
televised morning announcements, and a community wide Multicultural
celebration.
Waxie Sanitary Supply-
Supplier Diversity
Waxie is a Tempe-based company that
is a new contractor of janitorial supplies for the City of Tempe.
They have been working with Tempe Schools for a number of years and have
always strived to be a diverse organization. Waxie has a specific
five- year plan to incorporate minority-owned manufacturers within their
supply family. For the first two quarters of their five-year plan
Waxie has 12% minority-owned companies that they work with. At the
end of the five-year plan their goal is to have a minimum of 25%
minority-owned companies doing business with them.
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