Office of Human Resources - Employee Recognition
President's Medal for Social Embeddedness
The President's Medal for Social Embeddedness recognizes teams that have demonstrated excellence in partnering with Arizona communities to develop and implement programs or projects that positively embed ASU in the social and cultural fabric of our surrounding communities.
2008-2009 Award Recipients
Arizona Native Vote – Election Protection Project
Graffiti Alley Community Engagement Project
Arizona Native Vote – Election Protection Project
PAST WINNERS 2006-2007 Recipients 2005-2006 Recipients 2004-2005 Recipients 2003-2004 Recipients |
Since the Indian right to vote has been recognized, Indian voters have faced many challenges in obtaining and protecting the fundamental right to vote. Even after Indians were granted citizenship in 1924, the right to vote was not extended to Arizona Indians until 1948, and English literacy tests prevented most Indians from participating in elections until 1970. Since then, many obstacles have prevented Indians from participating fully in the electoral process. The most recent assault on the Indian right to vote is the Arizona voter identification law, which resulted in a sharp decrease in Indian voters in 2006.
In 2008, the Indian Legal Clinic at the College of Law, along with project partners the Native American Bar Association of Arizona, the Inter-Tribal Council of Arizona, the Arizona Indian Gaming Association, and the National Congress of American Indians, led the Arizona Native Vote – Election Protection Project to provide a resource to Arizona’s tribal communities and tribal members to ensure access to the polls and to prevent voter disenfranchisement. Fifty-three election protection volunteers assisted Indian voters on Election Day 2008, helping those who may otherwise have been denied the right to vote.
| ASU Team Members | Community Partners | |
Michael Carter, ASU Law Student |
Wenona Benally, Native American Bar Association - AZ |
Yuri Kondo, Native American Bar Association - AZ Travis Lane, Inter-Tribal Council of Arizona Peter Larson, Native American Bar Association - AZ Anthony Lee, White Mountain Apache Tribe Jim LeValley, Native American Bar Association - AZ John Lewis, Inter-Tribal Council of Arizona Sheila Morago, Arizona Indian Gaming Association Sonia Nayeri, Native American Bar Association - AZ April Olson, Native American Bar Association - AZ Kerry Patterson, Native American Bar Association - AZ Javier Ramos, Native American Bar Association - AZ Perry Riggs, Native American Bar Association - AZ Denten Robinson, Native American Bar Association - AZ Ed Rubacha, AZ State Bar Heather Dawn Thompson, National Congress of American Indians - Native Vote Alberta Tippeconnic, Inter-Tribal Council of Arizona Steve Titla, Native American Bar Assn - AZ/San Carlos Apache Tribe Nancy Williams Bonnett, Native American Bar Association - AZ Novaline Wilson, National Congress of American Indians - Native Vote |
Graffiti Alley Community Engagement Project
The Graffiti Alley Community Engagement Project, also known as "Civil Disobedience," is an Urban Conversation that combines rap music, Graffiti art, Hip Hop culture, and Education. A diverse crowd of over 800 people visited graffiti alley in Phoenix in November of 2008 to see pieces by local graffiti writers and breakdancing and DJ performances by the Furious Styles crew sponsored by the Herberger College of the Arts. Over 120 of these visitors were ASU students enrolled in classes directly related to these artistic media. ASU graduate students collected video footage of performances and interviews that were uploaded live to the event website.
The following day, another diverse group of over 300 people, including 100 ASU students, gathered at the School of Music to hear a lively panel discussion of hip hop culture in Phoenix. Many others attended and participated via a streaming online video and chat forum that was open to the public. The panel was headlined by recording artist and hip hop cultural organizer KRS-One, whose appearance was made possible by generous funding by Future Arts Research. In addition, numerous participants accessed the discussion via a live, public webcast.
In addition to creating community, building creative links between the University and city residents, and creating new knowledge and understandings of hip hop culture, this event had a practical impact. One year ago, despite the efforts of the City's police and graffiti busters, graffiti alley was littered with ugly graffiti tags, drug waste, and trash. Now increased traffic flow, artistic activity, and community awareness have replaced these blights with dazzling artwork, and at a fraction of the cost of municipal efforts.
This event series was organized by Joe Baker, Director of Community Engagement for the Herberger College, and Richard Mook, Assistant Professor of Music. An expanded series of events is planned for October of 2009.
| ASU Team Members | Community Partners |
Joe Baker, Herberger College of the Arts
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Michael Amaya, graffiti artist |