Evergreen faculty members honored with achievement awards

The Thurston Council on Cultural Diversity and Human Rights honored Evergreen faculty members Carol Minugh and José Gómez Monday, Dec. 14. The two faculty members both received the unique achievement award from the council for their work in the community.

Carol Minugh is director of the Gateways for Incarcerated Youth program at The Evergreen State College. The program brings Evergreen students into the Green Hill School and Maple Lane School juvenile detention facilities operated by the state Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration. In the nine years that Minugh has coordinated the program, hundreds of Evergreen students have worked side by side as co-learners with incarcerated youth at the facilities.

One of the priorities of the program is to prepare the incarcerated youth for college or further learning. Minugh generally oversees 25 to 30 Evergreen students in the facilities on a weekly basis working with the young men. The program also features a college-preparatory component to prepare youth for college, and earn limited college credit while they are still incarcerated.

Carol Minugh’s academic work has focused on participatory research, culture and behavior, and indigenous people. She graduated with a Doctorate of Education from Pennsylvania State Univ. in 1981.

Faculty member José Gómez was also honored for his significant work in co-chairing Evergreen’s weeklong commemoration last May of the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision. The “Search for Equality” series of events were held at both the Evergreen Olympia campus as well as the Tacoma campus. The commemoration was one of the most comprehensive in the nation, according to author and constitutional scholar Peter Irons, who delivered the keynote address.

Nationally known guest speakers were featured during the series of events as well as student and community performances and a film series. The events also attracted members of the public from throughout the area.

Gómez has been a member of Evergreen’s faculty for sixteen years, and graduated from Harvard Law School in 1981. He also organizes The Evergreen Supreme Court, an appellate advocacy program as a part of his law programs.

On the web:

Gateways Program - http://www.evergreen.edu/youthinaction/

José Gómez - http://academic.evergreen.edu/curricular/americanindianlaw/faculty.htm