Peteranetz to receive DEI's Diversity Leadership Staff Award

Markeya Peteranetz, assistant director of assessment and analytics in the Engineering and Computing Education Core (ECEC), has been selected to receive the Diversity Leadership Staff Award at the third-annual Nebraska Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Impact Awards ceremony on Monday, April 10.

Over the past few years, Peteranetz has played a key role in the College of Engineering's diversity and inclusive excellence efforts that led to the College being among the first group of three institutions across the United States to achieve Silver Award status within the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Diversity Recognition Program.

Peteranetz's contributions include:

• Creating rubrics for assessing candidate teaching, research and diversity statements for faculty hiring committees, and training materials for people involved in hiring processes.
• Leading the committee that determined the questions asked in the college-wide climate survey that was used to gain quantitative data on the climate within the college and was a key part of the ASEE Silver Award application, building the survey, and managing its distribution.
• Analyzing the climate survey data to assess the college's strengths in inclusion, areas for improvement and identifying ways to continuing the building of a more inclusive community within the college.

Peteranetz, who claims to work "in the background," said both the ASEE Silver Award and the DEI Staff Award is a reflection of the hard work by individuals to create an inclusive environment within the College of Engineering.

"It sometimes feels like the mountains ahead are so big and we have so far to go," Peteranetz said. "And then things like this happen and it's validating to know that others recognize the good work being done and the meaningful progress we're making.

"I cannot say enough about the college being committed to making this a better place for staff and faculty and students. Our administrators have stated that inclusion is not only important but that we're going to keep prioritizing it."

The Nebraska Diversity, Equity, Inclusion Impact Awards recognize individuals and groups who actively advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in transformative and sustainable ways at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and beyond.

The ceremony will begin at 6 p.m. with a small reception, followed by the awarding of the 2023 recipients. The event will be held in the Nebraska East Union Great Plains Room and will also be livestreamed.