Three receive Dr. King Service Awards

The 2015 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Service Award winners are (L-R): Ariella Rotramel, Maurice Tiner ’17 and Bryana White
The 2015 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Service Award winners are (L-R): Ariella Rotramel, Maurice Tiner ’17 and Bryana White

Connecticut College recently honored three members of the community with the 2015 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Service Awards, conferred each year on those who exemplify and uphold the legacy of Dr. King's work. The 2015 honorees are:

Faculty Award: Ariella Rotramel, visiting assistant professor of gender and women's studies

Rotramel's research interests — gender and women’s studies, queer and sexuality studies, social movements, gender and work, women’s leadership and ethnic studies — reflect her commitment to identity and social justice issues. And she has been very active in community service wherever her career has taken her, including volunteering locally for Hearing Youth Voices, a group dedicated to bringing up student concerns with New London Public Schools. Rotramel’s involvement on campus also reflects her dedication to equality and social justice: In addition to several academic committees, she serves on the Title IX Task Force and the Steering Committee of the Holleran Center for Community Action and Public Policy. Her students praise her ability to get them to see all sides of an issue through critical thinking and analysis in order to best understand the roots of oppression.

Staff Award: Bryana White, coordinator of multicultural counseling

White has a personal and professional commitment to diversity. In her role in the Office of Student Counseling Services, she engages in clinical work with students; develops and implements psycho-educational and cultural competence trainings and other outreach programs for students, faculty, and staff; and serves as a multicultural consultant and trainer for her colleagues and doctoral interns in the department. White also serves as a liaison to other offices on campus that serve students from minority groups — such as Unity House, the Office of the Dean of Multicultural Affairs, the LGBTQ Resource Center and the Dean of Religious and Spiritual Programs — to ensure better access to the Student Counseling Services. In addition, she works throughout the campus to increase awareness of multiculturalism and diversity while supporting the students in the college community. She supports Posse students and the S.H.E. (Share, Hear and Empower) Program and serves on the steering committee for the Center for the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity as well as the campus Diversity Committee.

Student Award: Maurice Tiner ’17

Tiner is a true leader committed to making an impact in his community and the world, and he has already made an impact at the College in a short time. The sophomore is a Posse scholar, the president of Umoja, a Unity House Ambassador, a student representative on the Diversity Council, co-chair of the Gospel Choir, a floor governor and a member of the men’s basketball team. He was also selected to give the Black History Month Convocation speech. Tiner has been the driving force behind a number of residential education events, including those centered on the shooting of a black teenager by a police office in Ferguson, Mo., and he conceived and organized an appreciation luncheon that allowed the campus community to thank staff in Dining Services, Facilities Management and Custodial Services. He hopes to become a teacher and then principal of an urban high school because he understands the value of role modeling.

The awards were presented at a community luncheon on Feb. 25.



February 27, 2015