Photo/Jim Coley
The University of Washington Alumni Association (UWAA) Multicultural Alumni Partnership (MAP) Club will host its 24th annual Bridging the Gap breakfast event during UW’s Homecoming on Sat., Oct. 21 at the UW Campus Husky Union Building (HUB).
This year, Seattle Medium and Kris Bennett Broadcasting Chairman Chris H. Bennett will be honored for his decades of outstanding contributions to the community in promoting diversity, supporting educational opportunity programs and assisting in recruiting and supporting diverse students, faculty and staff at the University of Washington (UW).
The National Education Association recently honored Bennett and said that he “has been tireless in his efforts to combat poverty, gun violence, education, inequality issues and unemployment – all social justice issues that impact communities who traditionally have not had a voice.”
MAP is a special interest alumni club, formed in 1995 by UWAA Board Members, Vivian O. Lee and Dr. Lawrence Matsuda with the support of the entire UWAA Board, including President Donald Kraft, as well as, Office of Minority Affairs VP Dr. Myron Apilado and his staff (Dr. Millie Russell, Letoy Eike, Elena Guevara and others who decided to join the MAP Board), UWAA Executive Director, John Rider (with his staff of Bonnie Rush and Kay Larsen) and other well-known local Community social justice supporters like Diane Martin, Charyl Kay Sedlik, Les Sessoms and Dr. Carol Simmons, The UW Board of Regents also officially welcomed the new club.
The club was formed specifically to promote a strong diversity agenda at the University of Washington (UW) and in its Alumni Association (UWAA). When MAP began, diversity was not easily found in the top priorities of the UW units, outside of the Office of Minority Affairs, so MAP began the job of building diversity initiatives across campus and promoting more involvement of the communities of color in the UW and UWAA. Former UW President Dr. Richard McCormick was very receptive to MAP’s efforts and signed the first official “UW Diversity Pledge” and the first annual UW diversity campus wide plans called “Diversity Compacts” which were signed at the MAP breakfasts by members of the UW Board of Regents, UWAA and MAP representatives, in each of his following years as UW President.
The current MAP Club alumni leaders are Atty. Jaebadiah Gardner, Sumona Das Gupta and Ross Brain. The Bridging the Gap scholarship breakfast is supported by the communities of color and UW staff & faculty that promote diversity in the UW student population. This support is particularly essential, even with the current UW President Ana Mari Cauce’s launching of the 2015 “UW Race and Equity Initiative for students, faculty, staff and university leadership to take personal responsibility for addressing our own biases and improving our university culture.”
In addition to support for attention to diversity in policies, staff, faculty, contracts and events, MAP provides scholarship assistance to continuing UW students and presents awards to distinguished alumni, staff, faculty and community leaders who have made outstanding contributions in the area of diversity each year.
Other honorees this year include: Cynthia del Rosario (Sam Kelly Award), Raul Anaya, Manka Dhingra, Scott Pinkham and the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project.
Reservations are $65 for students & seniors and $100 for others and may be made by calling (206) 543-0540 or online at UWalum.com/MAPbreakfast.
Proceeds from the breakfast will go to the MAP scholarship fund which supports economically disadvantages students who are academically successful.
