Ravi Grandhi – The Dayton, Ohio resident and graduate of Miami Valley High School will pursue a career as a medical doctor this fall as he enters the UC College of Medicine. The Darwin T. Turner scholarship recipient (and student ambas-sador for the program) entered UC through the Connections dual admissions program, which allows qualified high school students to reserve a place in UC’s College of Medi-cine once they earn their bac-calaureate degree at UC. Gran-dhi graduated magna cum laude from the McMicken Col-lege of Arts and Sciences (A&S) last December with a bachelor’s in biology and is also completing his master’s in business administration (September 2011) from the UC College of Business.

It’s the University of Cincin-nati’s most prestigious honor for undergraduates. The 2011 recipients of UC’s Presidential Leadership Medal of Excellence are Taiwo Adeoye, Ravi Gran-dhi, Andrew Smith and Shali Zhu. The symbol of this honor – a bronze medal fea-turing the university’s crest on the front and the recipi-ent’s name on the back. A UC tradition since 2002, the recipients of the Presidential Leadership Medal of Excel-lence are selected for their academic excellence, their commitment to co-curricular activities, their citizenship in support of the university’s goals and values, their dedi-cation to diversity and their potential for future success and achievement. They’ll receive special recognition at UC’s All-University Com-mencement ceremonies on Saturday, June 11, in Fifth Third Arena.

The 2011 honorees were selected from 29 applications of graduating seniors and 12 finalists. Two of the four recipients are proudly graduating as alumni of the Darwin T. Turner full-tuition scholarship program. Taiwo Adeoye – Born in Toledo, Ohio and raised in

Nigeria, Adeoye, a Darwin T. Turner Scholarship re-cipient, is a graduate of Our Lady of Apostles Secondary School in Lagos state, Nige-ria. She entered UC at the age of 22. She is earning bachelor’s degrees in inter-national affairs and political science from the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences (A&S), along with a certifi-cate in international human rights. Adeoye plans to dedi-cate her career to protecting the rights of women and children in developing coun-tries – more specifically, she wants to serve as an advo-cate to protect women against the practice of female genital mutilation and other archaic cultural traditions.

Presidential Awards Recipients

S P R I N G 2 0 1 1 E D I T I O N

M A Y 2 0 1 1 S P E C I A L T U R N E R E D I T I O N

For information

about the Darwin

T. Turner Scholar-

ship Program,

Check Out

WWW.UC.EDU/

EPS

P A G E 2

Come visit Ethnic

Programs and

Services in Steger

Student Life

Center

Room 555!

Breakfast of Champions The annual Breakfast of Champions is traditionally an early morning awards ceremony hosted by The Darwin T. Turners Scholars Program to honor and acknowledge faculty and staff who have been influential in the success of over 100 scholars. The UC Marching Band pro-vided a much needed good morning welcome. While students, faculty, and staff ate a hearty breakfast of eggs, muffins, bacon, fruits, and more, Dr. Livingston said the official University Welcome followed by the

occasion. Mr. Jerome Jack-son, supporter and contribu-tor to the Turner Scholars Program was honored for his continued years of sup-

port. Over 90 faculty and staff were present to receive medals of recognition from the students who nominated him/her. Ms. Taiwo Adeoye and Mr. James Day closed the ceremony by sharing with younger scholars what

they have learned during their time at UC and why the Turner program has been instrumental in their success. Ms. Adeoye re-

minded us that the Turner program is not only a scholar-ship but a fam-ily of support through the staff of Ethnic Programs and Services, through cur-rent scholars

who have become life-long friends, and through alumni who will always support the ideals of Turner.

S P E C I A L T U R N E R E D I T I O N

By: Brandon Reynolds On Wednesday, April 20, 2011, UC hosted its 3rd Annual Diversity Conference. The theme for this year's conference was Diversity & Inclusion: Accelerating the Transformation. Many people feel as though the definition of the term “Diversity” simply refers to a collection of different skin tones. This some-what simple and underdeveloped explanation, fails to dig deeper into the true meaning of this defini-tion. Realizing this, it is natural for one to become compelled into taking up the search for the true meaning of this complex term. While at the diversity conference, I was introduced to the University’s stance on finding an applicable solution to this problem. One woman who played a crucial role in facilitating our exploration of what it takes to be truly diverse was Dr. Brenda J. Allen. While in her small group, she stressed the importance of clarity and how the University must be clear on what it is attempting to achieve in relation to increasing diversity on cam-pus. When I asked Dr. Allen about her personal definition of what it means to be diverse, she stated that true diversity could only be achieved when people who represent and embody different aspects of life are valued. Dr. Allen’s response resonated with me because it ties into my own personal definition of diversity and how it can only be achieved if we strive to diversify our ways of thinking. In sum, the Diversity Conference was truly an eye-opening experience. Although we are still in the process of developing a comprehensive definition of diversity, I feel that the seminars, discussions, and brainstorming sessions held at this year’s Diversity Conference helped many members of the UC com-munity take lengthier strides towards the acquisition of a university-wide solution to this complex issue. I would like to personally thank the Office of Ethnic Programs and Services for providing me with this experience and I cannot wait to witness the positive change true diversity brings to this wonderful University.

SALD Diversity Conference

P A G E 3

S P E C I A L T U R N E R E D I T I O N

By: Shivam Kedia The Turner End Of the Year Awards Ceremony is a time that all Turner Scholars look forward to. The ceremony allowed students to look back at their year and realize how much they have ac-complished in a short period of time. The most memorable part of the day was the "A Year in the Life of Turner" pres-entation, a slide show of all the events hosted by Turner and EPS for the 2010-2011 year. Every-one laughed at the shared silly moments and pic-

tures that documented their growth over the year. Seniors were recog-nized for their 4 years of hard work, shared future plans, and imparted wis-dom to current scholars and incoming scholars. I remember when I was invited to the banquet as a senior in high school and it made me realize how amazing the pro-gram is. This year I was awarded "Mr. EPS" as well as the coveted" Turner Scholar of the Year" award. When Dr. Brandi Elliott and Ms. Yakaira Ramos called my name, I was speechless

because it is very rare for a freshman to win “Turner Scholar of the Year.” I re-alized that all my hard work during the year was encompassed in this award. The end of the year ceremony for ever scholar revives old memories, cre-ates new memories, and allows us to build new connections with the in-coming scholars while say-ing goodbye to the depart-ing seniors. The banquet reminded me and my peers of the family that is the Turner program and that I AM TURNER!

Turner End of the Year Awards Ceremony

P A G E 4

Turner Olympics The Turner Olympics and cookout is not only just a few games of tug of war, dizzy-bat, relay race, or dodge ball. The Olympics is an opportu-nity for all the scholars to demonstrate class pride. This year fresh-men were pitted against seniors and sophomores faced the juniors in an epic game of tug of war. Several seniors demon-strated true Turner competitiveness in the relay race against their younger peers. Every-one participated in a dodge ball showdown

as well as a new game of balloon pop. Stu-dents tied blown up balloons to his/her an-kles and tried to avoid another person at-tempting to pop the balloon at his ankle. Freshmen, outnumber-ing all other classes this year took home the championship. After two of hours of non-stop activity, students chowed down on a hearty meal of burgers, fries, salad, and fruit.

S P E C I A L T U R N E R E D I T I O N

Farewell Dr. Stacy Downing!

P A G E 5

S P E C I A L T U R N E R E D I T I O N

Taiwo Adeoye Carrington Bates

Ghenet Besera Taylor Birch

Alexandra Blood Emily Cao

Melissa Chavez Ambreesh Chawla Rajina Eskridge

Taylor Epsy Ravi Grandhi Khalia Jenkins Alyna Williams

Farewell Turner Seniors! Bethany Kintigh Vanessa Martin Ryan Mcguire

Jenae McSayles William Morton Dustin Muller Graciela Negri

Allison Ng Jacqueline Nguyen

Lauren Oka John Pham Ryan Smith Kristina Vu Dion Webb

P A G E 6

S P E C I A L T U R N E R E D I T I O N

Turners Beyond UC

D a r w i n T . T u r n e r S c h o l a r s

E n d o f t h e Y e a r A w a r d s

S p r i n g Q u a r t e r 2 0 1 1

Leadership Distinc-

tion

Yvonne Agumuo

Shivam Kedia

Brandon Reynolds

Kyler Burroughs

Elizabeth Delozier

Darienne Jordan

Andrew Kordahi

Martha Maberry

Carlo Cruz

Connie Fu

Chizi Igwe

Ghenet Besera

Maria Rosmarin

Highest GPA

Saloni Hemani

Rahul Prasad

Allyx Capek

Rohan Hemani

Benjamin Ko

Allison Ng

William Mallory Award

Taiwo Adeoye

James Rankin Award

Alexandra Blood

William Bowen Award

Ravi Grandhi

Turner Scholar of The

Year

Shivam Kedia

Right: Ryan Larkin and Sean Walton Jr. graduated with a J.D.s from Capital University Law School. Left: Dr. Michael J. Alexander received his PhD in Mechani-cal Engineering at the Univer-sity of Michigan May 2011 and is now working for General Motors within Research and Development.