University of Washington’s (UW’s) Multicultural Alumni Partnership (MAP) will be honoring Diane Narasaki, executive director of Asian Counseling and Referral Service (ACRS), with their prestigious Samuel E. Kelly Award on Saturday, Oct. 26.
Named for the late Dr. Samuel E. Kelly, UW’s first vice president for minority affairs, the award recognizes extraordinary commitment and service to equal opportunity, diversity, multiculturalism and social justice.
“We make sure we give [the award] to a recipient who spent their life and career working in the way that Sam Kelly would certainly appreciate and be proud of,” said Justin Simmons, past president of MAP and coordinator of the alumni group’s awards breakfast. “Diane’s been a champion of social justice in the community for many years and she was selected for that, and for her service with ACRS.”
Narasaki graduated from the UW in 1976. In response to the news, she noted: “Dr. Kelly played a major role in making a college education accessible to people of color and disadvantaged white students. He was clearly a towering figure and a man who believed that education was a path to opportunity, and that all people should have equal access to education and the opportunities resulting from higher education. It is deeply humbling to have been selected for the award in his name.”
