2022-2023 LIC Award Winners

Outstanding Undergraduate Student Award: Fide Valverde-Rivera 

Fide Valverde-Rivera was nominated by Professor Valeria Grinbrg-Pla. Prof. Grinberg-Pla notes that Fide excelled in her academic performance and community engagement, she went above and beyond by providing one-on-one tutoring, mentoring, and interpreting services at Escuela SMART in Toledo. She is concerned with social justice for children who speak Spanish to have the right to good quality education and the importance of bilingual education. Fide linked the experiences of children who attend Escuela SMART with her own experience attending an English-only school as a Latina.

Outstanding Faculty Award: Amy Robinson

Amy Robinson was nominated by Professor Michaela Walsh. Prof. Walsh noted that Amy Robinson does a lot of behind-the-scenes work here at BGSU and in our community: she was active in the sanctuary campus movement at BGSU and helped champion to make Bowling Green a welcoming city. Prof. Robinson has also spearheaded the annual installation of the Day of the Dead altar in Shatzel Hall, which celebrates and honors the lives of loved ones who have passed, and is open not just to the BGSU faculty, staff and students, but to the broader BG community as well. In fact, Prof. Robinson grows marigolds in her own garden for this installation.

Community-at-Large Award: Meyling Ruiz

Meyling Ruiz was nominated by Professor Susana Peña. Prof. Peña noted that Meyling Ruiz has served as the President of the Latino Alliance of Northwest Ohio, and co-chaired that organization’s Diamante Awards, which provides over $65,000 in scholarships for Latino/a/x youth in Northwest Ohio. These scholarships benefit not only BGSU students but also those from the University of Toledo, Owens Community College, and Lourdes University.