UConn Advance - April 30, 2007 - Women of Color Award-winners named

Susana Ulloa, Fe Delos Santos, and Debra Booker have been named recipients of the 2007 Women of Color Recognition Awards.

The awards recognize outstanding contributions to the University and excellence in leadership, achievement, and service.

Susana Ulloa has served as director of the UConn Upward Bound Program in the Center for Academic Programs since 1997.

In this role, she provides administrative and program management for two college preparation programs whose mission is to increase the college readiness of low-income, first-generation students of color from Connecticut’s urban centers.

She also serves on many committees, both within and outside the University community, that strive to improve the educational experience for students and to promote a diverse student body.

She currently serves on the University Senate Enrollment Committee, the Senate Growth and Development Committee, the University of Connecticut Professional Employees Association’s Committee on Political Education, the UConn Early College Experience Program Board, the Association of Latino Faculty and Staff Board, and the Connecticut Association of Latinos in Higher Education.

Ulloa received her master’s degree in political science, and has been pursing a doctorate in educational administration in the Neag School of Education.

Fe Delos Santos currently serves as program coordinator for the Asian American Studies Institute. In this position, she has contributed to the University’s growing interest in the study of human rights.

Delos Santos was the impetus behind the creation of the Japanese-American Internment Archives at UConn; she organizes both the annual Day of Remembrance event and the Mahavira Conference on peace and non- violence; and is a driving force behind the many events and speakers during Asian American Heritage Month.

From left, Fe Delos Santos, Debra Booker, and Susana Ulloa, recipients of the 2007 Women of Color Recognition Awards.

Photo supplied by the Women’s Center

Her work is characterized by efforts to promote cultural awareness by finding commonalities.

Her work in setting up Afro-Orientalism in partnership with the African American Studies Institute, and in highlighting the experiences of ethnic Japanese from Latin American countries during the internment in the U.S., are examples of this.

Delos Santos also works extensively with students on campus as a mentor and educator, a position greatly needed by many students of color at UConn.

Deb Booker has served as a UConn community police officer for the past 11 years. She has established a friendly rapport with the student body, and has put a caring face on her position of authority.

Booker is approachable, as well as caring and supportive to those she works with during her service.

She has served on the Recruitment and Retention Committee of the Women’s Center Advisory Board.

Also, in October 2001 and June 2002, she served as the UConn Police Department’s representative at a Training and Technical Assistance Institute sponsored by the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault, under the auspices of the Department of Justice’s Grants to Reduce Crimes of Violence Against Women on Campus program.