Berry and Robinson Honored with Presidential Awards for Diversity and Inclusion

This year, the Rollins Diversity Council has recognized two staff members who advance diversity and inclusion on campus. 

The first recipient is assistant women’s basketball coach Kourtnie Berry ’12, who's making her mark on campus and in the community through diversity and inclusion efforts. She is a member of Coaches4Change, an organization providing a platform that engages, empowers, and educates young voters on issues of social injustice, systemic racism, and the power of voting. In the last year, Berry has spearheaded student support efforts, including a unity walk, a voter registration drive, a student-athlete mental health day, and a “Let’s Bench Racism” campaign. As one colleague said, “Kourtnie is a role model for student-athletes in general, but especially for our [people-of-color] women athletes.”

The second honoree is Mary Robinson, assistant director of the Office of International Programs.

Robinson is known as an active student mentor, promoting study abroad options for all students and specifically focusing on diversity and inclusion efforts within her department. She is a former Rollins Diversity Council staff co-chair and recently published an article in the Orlando Sentinel on the link between the Asian American and Pacific Islander community and the Black Lives Matter movement. Outside her work at Rollins, Robinson leads CREATE sessions on designing for equity, social justice, and anti-oppression. One colleague described her as “setting the standard for how we can each make diversity and inclusion part of our work at Rollins.”

The Presidential Award for Diversity and Inclusion was established in 2010 as a means of recognizing and honoring students, faculty, and staff whose contributions and actions over time best exemplify the principles and ideals of diversity and inclusion.