2014 Pursuit of Inclusion Award Recipient: Kristy Bartley
The 2014 winner of the Student Affairs Diversity Committee Pursuit of Inclusion Award
was Kristy Bartley, Counseling Coordinator at the Women’s Resource Center. This award
was presented at the Winter Holiday Luncheon in December. Started in 2011, the Pursuit
of Inclusion Award was established to recognize a professional (or program) in Student
Affairs that strives to cultivate an environment promoting a valuable component of our Division’s mission: that is,
diversity. The Pursuit of Inclusion award highlights someone who engages and participates in dialogues & training related to inclusion; it recognizes collaboration with committees and departments to ensure that the ideas of excellence includes (and
is extended) to all students; and—the Pursuit of Inclusion honors someone who works
and teaches in meaningful ways to educate their colleagues in Student Affairs (and beyond).
Kristy does just that! One of her colleagues, wrote, “I believe that to be a social justice advocate and a teacher in maintaining an individual’s humanity is not a job - it is life’s work! You cannot tidy this work up at the end of the day and leave it in a locked filing cabinet and diligently return to it in the morning. You must make a decision to live it, model it, [and] speak out for it, even when it is unpopular or uncomfortable. This individual does that and she makes no apologies for speaking out against oppression, bias, discrimination and the kind of hatred that I wish had long ago been eradicated…her life’s work has evolved into prevention, education and awareness.
For over 20 years, in her own pursuit of inclusion, Kristy has contributed in very intentional ways.
- She co-founded a group on campus called White Women Working on Issues of Race and Equity (WWWRE);
- She serves on the Utah Dialogue Training Group (with campus and external community members) that trains others to facilitate difficult dialogues;
- She has also worked with ASUU students, multiple academic departments, and our very own—Housing Residential and Education department (just to name a few);
- She readily makes herself available to numerous academics to support instructors and professors to create more inclusive classrooms through dialogue; and
- She informally mentors first-generation students (both undergraduate and graduate students to more successfully navigate higher education)
In sum, Kristy consistently embodies; actively practices, and fearlessly advocates on behalf of inclusion and social justice. We were proud to select her as recipient of the 4th annual Pursuit of Inclusion Award by the Student Affairs Diversity Committee.