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Awards are given to students who demonstrate integrity and make contributions to self, community and family.

By Rebecca Ruiz-McGill, University Communications
December 9, 2008

The University of Arizona Centennial Achievement Awards will be presented at the winter commencement ceremony on Dec. 20 to six outstanding students-one male and one female from each of the graduating class levels.

Centennial Achievement awards were established in December 1984 by the UA Division of Student Affairs. These awards recognize students who will graduate within the academic year and who have demonstrated integrity; who have overcome enormous challenges to achieve a college education; and who have made a contribution to self, community and family.

The Centennial Achievement Undergraduate Awards will be presented to honors students Joel Alexis Greer and Danielle Myers. Greer will graduate with a degree in business administration this December. Myers will graduate with a bachelor of arts in 2009.

The Centennial Achievement Graduate Student Awards will be presented to Gazelle Samizay and Omar A. Contreras. Samizay is working on a master's in fine arts and Contreras on a master's in public health.

Awards also will be presented to Anthony Hutchinson and Rebecca Covarrubias. Hutchinson is working on a doctorate in neuroscience and Covarrubias, who was an honors student as an undergraduate, is working on a doctorate in psychology.

The award winners' contributions to community are notable as is reflected in the accomplishments of Greer, the sole December graduate among the award winners.

Greer, a graduate of Douglas High School, was told that he should first attend a junior college rather than enroll at the UA directly out of high school.

He counts himself fortunate that through a series of personal contacts he met Oscar Lujan, the program coordinator for the UA Hispanic Alumni and coordinator of Hispanic Alumni Scholars. Geer was awarded a scholarship through the program and Lujan has become one of many mentors who helped Greer attain his degree.

"I'm a huge supporter of retention programs. They focus on people like me with financial need and help to create a network of peers and mentors to help you succeed," he said.

His first two semesters at the UA were driven by a desire to prove all the disbelievers wrong in advising him to attend a junior college first. Greer scored a 4.0 average during his first two years at the University with the help of the Hispanic Alumni scholarship and its retention programs-the first of which changed his degree plans.

"I had entered the UA contemplating a degree in neuropsychology because my father has a doctoral (degree) in psychology. My brother graduated with a business degree and he had been talking with me about business. After going through the Success Express program and meeting with community mentors, I decided to become an accounting major," Greer said.

Greer is interested in social entrepreneurship and saw accounting as a springboard to implementing programs that benefit a greater good. For example, he is one of the founding members of the UA chapter of the Association of Latino Professionals in Finance and Accounting whose mission matched his life work's vision.

"I am not aware of any other Hispanic organization that has professional development and placement and a commitment to community and its members from college through graduation and into your professional career," he added.

Given his background growing up on the U.S.-Mexico border in Douglas and his commitment to Hispanic development, Greer pushed himself to go beyond his level of comfort and reach out to other communities.

He worked with a program to help newly arrived refugees who had moved to Tucson become accustomed to American style marketing and rudimentary business fundamentals-from making change to developing banners and fliers to promote their business.

He is also a member of Lambda Theta Phi Latin Fraternity-the nation's first Latino fraternity. The fraternity he says provides an important peer network committed to service and brotherhood and has been part of his success at the UA.

"Our 24-hour toy drive collected 10,000 toys this year 4,000 more than last year," Greer proudly said.

His next step is graduate school where he will pursue a master's degre in accounting to prepare for the Certified Public Accountant Certificate and will work begin work for Ernst & Young in Phoenix where he plans to continue his involvement in the community by starting social entrepreneurial projects that address pertinent issues in the Latino community.

The other undergraduate Centennial winner, Danielle Myers, will graduate with a degree in history with honors from the Honors College. She is a single mother of three who takes time to volunteer in various local community projects that include serving meals to the homeless on holidays, making prom and homecoming dresses for underprivileged girls and raising money for the Salvation Army for holiday food boxes.

In 2004 she established a small sewing business in Managua, Nicaragua, in order to teach barrio women a marketable skill.

Myers is taking the LSAT in December and will apply to law school. She plans to practice family law with an emphasis in battered women and children.

University Commencement Honors Centennial Achievement Graduate Student Awards for Master's Degree: Gazelle Samizay and Omar A. Contreras

Gazelle Samizay was born in 1981 to a family of teachers and social activists in the midst of the communist invasion in Kabul, Afghanistan. Her family was forced to leave the country, fleeing to Paris, Washington, D.C., and eventually landed in the rural town of Pullman, Wash. Upon graduating high school, Samizay moved to Seattle to begin studies at the University of Washington and received a bachelor's degree in fine arts and international studies in 2004.

As a multimedia artist, Samizay's photography and video works have been exhibited in both the U.S. and abroad, including New York, Washington, D.C., Freiburg, Germany, Iquitos, Peru and Bogotá, Colombia. Samizay is the recipient of numerous grants and awards such as the Mary Gates Research Grant, Arizona Artist Guild Scholarship and the Medici Grant. She also has taught artist workshops in the U.S., Afghanistan and Jordan. Samizay is working on a master's degree in fine arts in photography from the UA.

Omar Contreras is working on a master of public health in epidemiology from the UA Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health. He received a bachelor of science in 2006 from the UA in molecular and cellular biology.

Contreras is an immigrant from Mexico who moved to Tucson at the age of six with his single mother. A family history of diabetes has led to his ultimate goal to help individuals with this chronic disease.

As an undergraduate, Contreras was a Minority Access to Research Careers trainee, gaining funding to conduct biomedical research during his last two years of undergraduate studies. He conducted a fellowship at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases to study the effects of tuberculosis. Before entering graduate school, Contreras was honored with another fellowship at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Honors Academy.

His work at the NIH Honors Academy included leading a committee responsible for planning a health promotion fair to effectively address health issues occurring in minority and low-income populations, with an emphasis in diabetes. He was awarded first place at the NIH Post-baccalaureate Symposium.

In the fall of 2007 as an incoming graduate student at the UA Contreras was awarded the Project EXPORT fellowship for his commitment in addressing health disparities in Latinos and American Indians in the areas of diabetes and substance abuse.

Contreras is a strong leader at the UA College of Public Health serving as co-chair of the master's degree in public health internship conference, president of the Public Health Student Alliance, co-captain of the Diabetes Walk and co-chair of the 2008 Diversity Celebration, which promotes diversity within the realms of public health. He also is a brother of Lambda Theta Phi Latin Fraternity and a research associate at the UA College of Nursing investigating the level of exercise program adherence in diabetic adolescents.

Upon graduation, he plans to attend medical school where he hopes to implement better strategies for diabetes prevention and management in the Latino communities.

University Commencement Honors Centennial Achievement Graduate Student Awards for Doctorate Degrees: Anthony Hutchinson and Rebecca Covarrubias

Anthony Hutchinson is working on a doctoral degree from the UA's Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience. Originally from Jackson, Ohio, Hutchinson received his undergraduate training in psychology at Berea College in Kentucky where he was involved in student government and was a member of the residence life staff.

After graduation, Hutchinson spent a year as a caseworker for at-risk youth at a children's services residential facility in Ohio and served as a volunteer math and science tutor for elementary and middle school students. Following his time as a caseworker, he returned to school to study experimental psychology at New Mexico Highlands University. There he conducted research on learning and memory in aged rats and developed an interest in the biological and chemical mechanisms of the nervous system.

Since arriving at the UA, Hutchinson has conducted research on the molecular pharmacology of the prostaglandin receptors in the laboratory of UA professor John Regan. Hutchinson's studies have characterized novel mechanisms regulating the secretion of growth factors from brain-derived cell cultures. He has also identified new cell signaling pathways that are activated by the molecular receptors targeted by a class of drugs used in the treatment of glaucoma.

Additionally, he has worked on research projects with several students and technicians in other university departments, contributing to studies in a variety of other fields of the life sciences.

After graduation Hutchinson will join the laboratory of professor Margarita Dubocovich at the University at Buffalo, where he will investigate the neuropharmacology of melatonin in sleep and circadian disorders.

Rebecca Covarrubias earned a bachelor of science in family studies and human development at the UA, graduating with honors and maintaining a 4.0 GPA. As a graduating senior, Covarrubias received the Family Studies and Human Development Outstanding Senior Award and the Hispanic Alumni Outstanding Senior Award.

During her undergraduate career, she held many leadership positions in various organizations, including serving as president of Kappa Delta Chi Sorority, co-president of JUNTOS Multicultural Coalition, recruitment chair for Family Studies and Human Development Ambassadors, service committee member in Mortar Board Senior Honorary, peer adviser for Student Support Services, mentor and tutor for Chicanos por La Causa, Project Yes and House of Neighborly Services, and was a scholar of the Ronald E. McNair Achievement Program.

Through her community involvement, Covarrubias developed an interest in graduate school and applied to several programs in social psychology.

She is currently a doctoral degree candidate in social psychology at the UA.

As a member of the Culture Collaboratory, she conducts research with assistant professor Stephanie Fryberg of the UA department of psychology and Alisha Watts, a graduate student mentor. In this program, Covarrubias examines the school experiences and resiliency of students from underrepresented backgrounds or those who are first-generation-college students and low-income minority youth.

Covarrubias' research includes examining survivor guilt, the inner conflict that successful first-generation college students experience after leaving their families amid adverse conditions.

In another line of research, Covarrubias explores the impact of role models on school belonging and academic performance for low-income Native American and Mexican American children. She was awarded the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, the Ford Foundation Predoctoral Diversity Fellowship and the UA Graduate College Diversity Fellowship.

She works as a community resident assistant for La Aldea Graduate Housing where she organizes community service programs for graduate student residents and assists them with their academic and living needs.

Her primary objective in graduate school is to conduct research that examines educational discrepancies in and retention strategies for underrepresented students. Additionally, she wants to develop the tools and skills necessary for an academic career.

Covarrubias, a first-generation college student, wants to continue research on educational resiliency in order to develop strategies that will improve educational systems in underprivileged communities.

Being a Mexican American graduate student from a low-income background, she is committed to mentoring and serving children from disadvantaged social, ethnic and economic backgrounds.