The School of Literatures, Cultures & Linguistics is proud to present the 2024 SLCL Diversity Awards.
SLCL Diversity & Engagement Award
This award recognizes alumni or members of the community at large who have made significant contributions (tangible and intangible) to the SLCL community; contributions which strengthen our public service mission, our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusivity, and our international connections.
This year’s awardee is Eman Saadah. Eman is a professor in the Department of Linguistics and serves as director of the Less Commonly Taught Languages Program and director and language coordinator of Arabic. She has served in these roles for over a decade and has significantly expanded the scope and visibility of both programs in ways that have had great impact on the community.
Her unit’s Arabic High School Program—which has been in place since 2016 and runs concurrently with the Summer Institute for Languages of the Muslim World (SILMW)—in particular has provided opportunities for high school students to register for two weeks of intensive, residential Arabic language learning at UIUC. The program has been a singular success and attracted applicants from across the United States. With the support of the Qatar Foundation International, Eman has worked to secure fellowships for qualified students in need, ensuring everyone has equitable access to the program.
She has also actively contributed to the Avicenna Community Health Center Executive Board, an initiative that provides culturally responsive care to the uninsured and underinsured in Champaign County, and has been extensively involved with the Muslim American Society’s Champaign-Urbana Chapter since 2007.
Xiaohui Zhang Diversity & Community Engagement Award
This award honors graduate students, faculty, and/or staff members in the school who have contributed to our mission of promoting a diverse, inclusive, and engaged academic community, and/or who have facilitated meaningful connections between the school and the wider community, in a spirit of respect, partnership, and reciprocity.
This year’s recipient is Luis David Gaytán-Soto, a graduate student and teaching assistant in the Department of Spanish & Portuguese. Luis was selected for his strong commitment to issues that promote diversity and inclusivity—including his efforts to make spaces for underrepresented students.
At the program level, he has been a part of the 1st Gen Access & Equity Travel Grant Selection Subcommittee, among others. At the university level, in addition to being part of the advisory and scholarship selection committees at La Casa Cultural Latina, he serves in their Advising, Connecting, & Empowering Mentorship Program, where he has mentored four Latinx undergraduate students on how to navigate life as students. At the community level, Luis has volunteered in the Pen Pal Program at Dr. Preston L. William Elementary School, which has a student demographic that is largely Black and Latina/o.
Luis was also recently selected for the 2023 Graduate Student Leadership Award. The selection committee of the Graduate College’s competitive award acknowledged “his unique brand of servant leadership" towards supporting diversity and inclusive environments.