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THE STONEWALL
ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIP
2011 Recipients
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Jennifer Rokakis
is a persistent advocate of LGBT alliances. She was active as president of her high school's
Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA), organizing a candlelight vigil for hate crime victims that is
now an annual event. At EMU Jennifer participated in an Academic Service Learning project in
which she worked with her high school GSA to make their feelings and concerns more visible
to the administration. Her research was presented at the EMU Undergraduate Symposium. Jennifer
became a member of the Queer Unity for Eastern Students (QUEST) organization and is currently
the president of QUEST. In QUEST, Jennifer Rokakis has facilitated such events as discussions
on prejudice against bisexual and transgender people in the lesbian and gay community and
pre-election meetings with local LGBT friendly political candidates. She is a member of the
Eastern Pride Identity Coalition, visiting classrooms to share her life experiences. Upon graduating,
Jennifer Rokakis hopes to work for a non-profit organization that advocates on behalf of LGBT people.
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Eric Kiturkes
has served as a strong Ally to the EMU LGBT campus community.
As Floor Governor for Downing Hall's Leadership and Advisory Board, he worked to make sure that all
groups of people, including LGBT students, were considered while planning program events. As a New
Student Orientation Assistant, Eric included the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Resource Center
(LGBTRC) as an important resource in his orientation activities. As a result, several new students
felt comfortable asking for more information about this facet of campus life. As a Resident Advisor,
Mr. Kiturkes dedicated his bulletin board to the OUTober LGBT awareness month that EMU sponsors. He
took residents to see OUTober events, and he hosted a program called Sex Bingo including a discussion
led by an invited faculty member to enhance understanding of sex and sexuality including LGBT
identities and feelings. Eric Kiturkes has helped make the residence halls and EMU in general feel
more accepting and inclusive of the LGBT community.
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Colby Pinkham
has served as a Career Ambassador and as an Event Assistant
for the Bi-Annual Michigan Collegiate Job Fair. His supervisor wrote that Colby has been a strong
advocate for LGBT individuals and "... has offered our Center the opportunity to look more closely
at not only our forms and programs but also at our personal values and assumptions and how they come
into play when working with students." Mr. Pinkham encouraged Career Services to have the entire staff
of 26 participate in Ally training with the LGBT Resource Center. Mr. Pinkham is a Social Work major.
He facilitated the participation of medical staff at Snow Health Services to participate in basic
hormone-therapy training and to update their information on monitoring guidelines and secondary trans
health issues. Colby Pinkham has worked with the health administration staff to get several trans health
practices covered under the current student insurance policy. Mr. Pinkham advised Student Government to
modify the Director of Diversity position description to include "liaison to the LGBTRC" and has served
as an EPIC panel member. Colby Pinkham is now in the process of advising the Stonewall Scholarship Committee
to modify the Stonewall Scholarship criteria.
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