The Conference on Diversity and Equity (CDE) is pleased to announce the recipients of this year’s Bill Davis Scholarship. This scholarship is named in honor of the late Mr. Bill Davis, director of the Upward Bound project, Loyola University of Chicago from 1969-1990, and one of the founding members of CDE. This scholarship, awardee annually, commemorates his commitment to education, public image, and student of color motivation.
Melisa Alves, assistant director of Center for Career Development at the College of the Holy Cross, Mike Hayes, director of Campus Ministry at the Canisius College, Andre Isaacs, PhD, assistant professor of chemistry at the College of the Holy Cross, and Will Johnson, PhD, associate dean of students at Fairfield University served as application reviewers.
Fifty-nine applications were submitted from 11 of the 28 AJCU member institutions.
Three recipients were selected from the pool of applicants. Each student will receive an award of $500.
- Calla Kelley-Renda from Port Jefferson, NY. She is an Arrupe Scholarship recipient and a member of the class of 2020 in the Honors Program at Loyola Marymount University, studying film and television production. Her sophomore level film, “Incomplete”, was chosen to be screened at the Loyola Marymount University School of Film and Television Mayer Theater. She has held multiple leadership roles in the Delta Kappa Alpha Professional Cinematic Fraternity and the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. Last summer, she interned at the Nassau County Film Commission. She is actively involved in a number of service-oriented projects. In her personal statement, she spoke of using the power of film “to share knowledge, reveal truths about humanity and pierce through their prejudice, stigma and cultural conditioning to teach audiences that life, in all its unique forms, is important and worthy of expression”.
- Nanrawee Kitiarsa from Waltham, MA. She is a member of the class of 2021 from the College of the Holy Cross. She currently volunteers at the Worcester Refugee Assistance Project, which assists refugees from Southeast Asia countries including Myanmar and Vietnam, where she reads to children, assists them with their homework, and facilitates English as a Second Language classes to adults. She is a dancer in the College’s Dance Ensemble and Latinidad Identidad. After college, she plans to pursue a law degree focusing on civil rights law.
- Andrea Pena from Mountain View, CA. She is a Dean’s Scholarship recipient and a member of the class of 2020 in the Honors Program at Santa Clara University, studying sociology and ethnic studies with a minor in Spanish studies. Since arriving at Santa Clara, she has become active in MEChA-El Frente – the Latino Student Union, served as an Undergraduate Admissions Student Ambassador, and volunteered at LUCHA Elementary School and the Community Law Clinic. She interned last summer at the National Center for Lesbian Rights. In addition, she has served as a research assistant for the associate dean in the College of Arts and Sciences and participated in an immersion trip through the Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education to Boyle Heights in Los Angeles. She will be studying abroad this fall in Quito, Ecuador.