Photo by Matt Petros

GLBTA award winners honored

Rick Treter, center, won this year’s award for Most Supportive Faculty or Staff from the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Ally (GLBTA) Resource Center. The director of resident life “is a first-class role model for working and living as a gay man,” said nominators Edythe Cook, left, Housing and Dining, and Julie Weber, right, director of Housing and Dining. “Through his actions, demeanor, and interpersonal style, Rick educates the community . . . and raises people’s tolerance and acceptance of GLBT individuals.”

“Rick really charms all the incoming freshmen students,” adds GLBTA director Mindy Michels. Speaking to incoming freshmen, “he’s basically open to who he is, and it sets the tone that I think goes throughout housing.”

The award for Campus Excellence went to the Department of Anthropology, the first time a department has won the award. “It’s one of those places on campus where all kinds of initiatives or classes or programs happen without any kind of prompting or participation on our part,” Michels says. The department is particularly well known for its Lavender Languages conference, now in its 12th year.

Other award winners included Eric Jost and Allison Shaw, for student leadership; Storme Gray and Allison Sosna, for building campus diversity; and Megan Hamilton, for academic work. —SA