Martin Luther King Jr. Award winners
Five individuals were presented with BU's Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Awards at the 15th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Banquet Feb. 6. The honorees are, from left: standing: Robert Wislock (staff), Donna Counterman (community) and Kambon Camara (faculty). Seated: Ashley Ryman and Andy Stout (student).
Faculty Award:
Kambon Camara, assistant professor of psychology and psychological counselor in the Center for Counseling and Human Development. Camara came to Bloomsburg University in 1990 and has served as chairperson of the Committee on Protected Class Issues (PCI) for over 15 years and a member of the Black History Committee for the past 12 years. He is also adviser to the Black Cultural Society. Before coming to BU, Camara was an educator in Minneapolis, Minn. He was co-founder of an alternative high school called Street Academy and served as Minneapolis Urban League Director of Education.
Community Award:
Donna Counterman, a BU alumna who earned a bachelor's degree in secondary education-biology, and a master's degree in biology, is a biology teacher at Danville Area High School. Counterman is the chief organizer of efforts to continue to have Danville High School proclaimed a "no Place for Hate" school by the Anti Defamation League and is also a planning committee member for the Bloomsburg University Diversity Conference, sponsored by the Task Force on Racial Equity. In 2003, Donna founded the group "Spectrum," a club at Danville High School for tolerance and diversity.
Student Awards:
Andy Stout and Ashley Ryman
Andy Stout, a senior English major from Berwick, currently works in BU's SOLVE Office. He is a member of the Caring Communities for AIDS Executive Board of Directors, directs the diversity group and their initiatives for the Berwick Area Senior High School, and is helping to plan the GSA Leadership Conference in March.
Ashley Ryman, a junior secondary education-English major from Danville, is the president of the Gay Straight Alliance on campus, is a member of the LGBTA Commission, and works for the LGBTA Resource center. She has helped to create the first statewide LGBT student leadership conference set to take place this coming March.
Staff Award:
Robert Wislock is deputy to the President for Equity and interim director of Accommodative Services for Students with Disabilities. He has been involved with the Campus Wide Committee on Human Relations which supports educational and cultural programs. He helped develop the first university mediation program to resolve conflicts among individuals and to create a Delta Alpha Phi Omicron Chapter to recognize the academic achievements of students with disabilities.