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From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Mon Aug 23 2010 - 14:15:41 EDT
http://www.udel.edu/udaily/2011/aug/debessay-award-inclusiveness082010.html
Debessay wins Ernst and Young award for inclusivenessADVERTISEMENT
Araya Debessay, left, with Jim Turley, chairman and CEO of Ernst and Young.
9:47 a.m., Aug. 20, 2010----Araya Debessay, professor of accounting
and management information systems in the University of Delaware's
Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics, has won a 2010 Ernst
and Young Inclusive Excellence Award for Accounting and Business
School Faculty.
The award honors five faculty members from across the country who have
had a significant impact on diversity and inclusiveness within their
business schools and universities.
Nominations are based on the faculty members' contributions to
building inclusive excellence in the business school community through
demonstration of one or more of the following: commitment and
accountability in the business school and university; diverse student
recruitment and retention; and curriculum and learning.
“I am humbled to have received this award from Ernst and Young and I
will take it as a reminder of the work I need to continue,” said
Debessay. “The University is surely making impressive strides toward
achieving its diversity, inclusiveness and equity goals and in
creating a welcoming environment that celebrates diversity. However,
we must continue to make efforts in these areas.
“I am also very pleased that the award will give visibility and
publicity to the University's efforts in promoting diversity,
inclusiveness and equity,” Debessay said.
Bobby Gempesaw, dean of the Lerner College, said that Debessay was
most deserving of the award.
“Prof. Debessay has played a critical role in attracting and
advocating the hiring of underrepresented groups in faculty,
professional and administrative positions,” said Gempesaw. “He has
contributed so much in making UD a more welcoming institution to
diverse members of the faculty, staff and students. I am very pleased
that he is honored with this award to recognize his three decades of
promoting inclusiveness, equity and diversity.”
According to Guido Geerts, chair of the Department of Accounting and
MIS, Debessay is the embodiment of diversity at UD.
“For Prof. Debessay, promoting diversity is not 'just another thing to
do' -- it is part of his daily activities,” said Geerts. “For example,
in the '90s he served as the chair of the President's Commission to
Promote Racial and Cultural Diversity. It was during this time that
the African Heritage Caucus, the Latino/Latina Caucus, the Asian and
Pacific Islanders Caucus and the Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Caucus were
formed and still function today. These are accomplishments beyond
measure.”
Francis Kwansa, associate chair in the Department of Hotel, Restaurant
and Institutional Management, served on the Commission to Promote
Racial and Cultural Diversity while Debessay was co-chair.
“Under his leadership, he created caucuses for underrepresented
constituent groups on campus with the purpose of providing
representation and a means of advocacy for them,” said Kwansa. “When I
was chair of the commission, I found it to be an invaluable mechanism
for promoting inclusiveness on this campus.”
Patricia Plummer Wilson, vice president and chief of staff at UD,
wrote in her nomination of Debessay that as co-chair of the Diversity
Task Force, he co-authored a Diversity Task Force Report that “was
excellent and provides important guidance for moving the University of
Delaware forward on its Path to Prominence.”
“As co-chair of the Diversity Task Force, as a member of the Diversity
Action Council and as chair of the Climate Issues Sub-Committee, Prof.
Debessay displayed commitment, leadership, seriousness of purpose,
discretion and good judgment,” said Wilson.
Michael Vaughan, senior assistant dean in the College of Engineering,
worked with Debessay on the Diversity Task Force when Debessay served
as co-chair with Edward F. and Elizabeth Goodman Rosenberg Professor
of Sociology Margaret Andersen.
“He did an absolutely outstanding job in providing thought leadership
for our intensive deliberations,” wrote Vaughan in his nomination of
Debessay. “It is clear that the Diversity Task Force's final report to
President Harker was guided, in large measure, by the insight,
professional commitment and personal investment so eloquently
exhibited by Araya.”
Michael K. Hidrue, a doctoral candidate in economics, also supported
Debessay's nomination for the award.
“I am speaking not only for myself but on behalf of many African
students who graduated from UD when I say that Prof. Debessay is an
icon of hope, a supportive mentor and an excellent role model,” wrote
Hidrue in his nomination. “If awards are recognition for outstanding
contribution, I cannot think of anyone more deserving for the Ernst
and Young Inclusive Excellence Award.”
Debessay currently serves as co-chair of the UD Diversity and Equity
Commission, and chairs the UD Building and Nurturing a Welcoming
Campus Climate Committee, the UD African Heritage Caucus Board and the
Department of Accounting and MIS Teaching Advisory Committee.
He holds a master of business administration and doctorate from
Syracuse University, and is an advanced fellow at the UD Institute for
Transforming Undergraduate Education.
As an advanced fellow, Debessay receives hands-on experience in
employing active learning strategies, specifically problem-based
learning and the effective use of technology in his courses.
Debessay, who also holds certifications as a public accountant,
management accountant and internal auditor, joined the UD faculty in
1978. Prior to that, he began his teaching career in the 1960s in
Dekemhare, a small rural town in what was then an Eritrean province in
northern Ethiopia.
His research interests include inflation and behavioral accounting,
problem-based learning in accounting and Eritrean studies.
Debessay has published numerous research articles, including papers in
journals such as the International Journal of Accounting, Journal of
Accounting Education, and Journal of Business Education. Debessay has
been the recipient of many awards and honors, including the UD
Excellence in Teaching Award and the Student Choice Excellence in
Undergraduate Teaching Award.
In addition to Debessay, the other four award winners were: Ingrid E.
Fisher from the State University of New York at Albany; George O.
Gamble from the University of Houston; Stevie Watson from Rutgers
State University of New Jersey; and William L. Wells from the
University of Washington. The winners were selected from 100 nominees
representing 39 universities nationwide.
The award winners were publicly announced Aug. 1 by James Turley, CEO
and chairman of Ernst and Young, at a reception during the American
Accounting Association annual meeting in San Francisco.
Article by Kathryn A. Marrone
Photo courtesy Ernst and
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