
Yesenia Pedro Vicente, Diversity and Student Success program coordinator within The Graduate School, has received the UNC Employee Forum’s Professional Excellence Award.
The honor recognizes staff members for exceptional execution above and beyond assigned duties, supportive interactions within their department, supportive interactions between campus departments, and/or exemplary interaction with the outside community.
Pedro Vicente, who received the award at the June 10 Employee Forum meeting, supports Diversity and Student Success (DSS) in many ways: managing events and programs, coordinating financial resources to graduate students, and creating program communications. She is a facilitator for UndocuCarolina’s ally training program and supports the Womxn of Worth initiative for womxn of color at Carolina.
Kathy Wood and Maria Dykema Erb, co-directors of DSS, nominated Pedro Vicente for the award. From Wood’s statement: “Yesenia was onboarded to DSS to work directly with our student programming component and has performed exceptionally. She has taken what we hired her for to a much higher level.”
Wood provided specific examples of Pedro Vicente’s initiative, including representing DSS at orientation and informational events, and supporting DSS student recruitment and retention efforts.
Thirteen employees were presented annual peer recognition awards at the Employee Forum meeting. Full information on the meeting was published in The Well: “Chancellor Guskiewicz updates Employee Forum on Roadmap for Fall 2020.”