One medal represents two firsts

Mary James Legatski
Public Affairs Program Manager

September, ASME's Board of Governors made history on two fronts by approving one action: the creation of the first ASME-level award to recognize the promotion of diversity and inclusiveness, which, in another first, will bear the name of a corporate sponsor.

The ASME Johnson & Johnson Consumer Companies Inc. Medal will recognize outstanding contribution by an individual, company, government entity, school or other organization toward developing and implementing practices, processes and programs that value and strategically manage diversity and inclusiveness.

The ASME JJCCI Medal will be awarded for the first time in 2005. The recipient will be awarded a medal, certificate and a $1,000 honorarium. Travel expenses will also be reimbursed to enable the recipient to attend the medal's presentation.

The award was originally established in 1994 by the Board on Minorities and Women, which was the predecessor to the Board on Diversity and Outreach (BDO), to recognize outstanding contributions by an individual or institution to the advancement of minorities and women in the field of mechanical engineering. The Committee on Honors approved the concept of the award in principle at that time.

Mulchand Rathod, vice president of the BDO, and Keith Thayer, honorary chair of the Diversity and Outreach Award Endowment Fund, were instrumental in raising the endowment for the medal earlier this year.

Other contributors included Johnson & Johnson Consumer Companies Inc., the ASME Pipeline Systems Subdivision and the ASME Petroleum Division. Contributors also include ASME members Mahesh Aggarwal, Christina Amon, William Craft, Jane Davidson, Joseph Falcon, Alma Martinez Fallon, John Fernandes, Nancy Fitzroy, Lisa and Frank Garcia, Kenneth Gentili, Marc Goldsmith, R.J. Goldstein, Rosemary and Serge Gratch, Stacey Swisher Harnetty and Patrick Harnetty, Crystal Heshmat, Frank Kreith, Francis Kulacki, Gary Laughlin, Gina Lee-Glauser, Gerald Lowen, Lemmy Meekisho, Carolyn Meyers, Trudy Miller, Karen Moore, Gary Poulin, Tom Rabbit, Allen Rhodes, Esther and Richard Rosenberg, Donna and Bob Simoneau, J. Robert Sims, Cass Tang, Judith Todd, R.I. Vachon, Charles Velzy, Brian Will, and Donald Zwiep.

The BDO encourages all ASME members to begin giving thought to nominees for the 2005 presentation of the ASME JJCCI Medal.

Information on the ASME JJCCI Medal is available at www.asme.org/communities/diversities/Bdo/JJCMedal.htm, or by contacting Mary James Legatski at legatski@asme.org.

 

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