Sophia Spittlemeister, a senior finance major, was awarded the 2020 Excellence in Diversity Award. As a queer student at UW-Eau Claire, she advocates for her own community as a student programmer for the inaugural freaQweek, a Gender and Sexuality Resource Center intern, and the social media director of PRIDE.
"I'm very committed to equity, diversity, and inclusivity (EDI) at UW- Eau Claire. As someone who is apart of a marginalized group on campus, I find high importance that all groups are represented and have opportunity." shared Spittlemeister.
Spittlemeister has co-authored several pieces of legislation regarding EDI as a student senator. She also represented the Student Senate on the College of Business curriculum committee and advocated for the renaming and restructuring a business core course to include a heavier focus on inclusion and equity.
Spittlemeister also re-attended some of the Student Professional Development Program workshops with fellow College of Business students to evaluate how EDI is incorporated in the workshops. They provided recommendations to the SPDP program director on how each workshop could be more inclusive.
Outside of the College of Business, she is part of the Student EDI Training committee for Tier I and Tier II and contributed input for the creation, structure, and vision of the students' EDI training at UWEC with immediate implementation in Fall 2020.
The Excellence in Diversity Award is presented to one student whose actions, perspectives and engagement demonstrate a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusivity. Nominees must be in good academic standing and be registered both semesters of the current academic year.
The Excellence in Diversity Award is sponsored by the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Foundation.
