The Michael V. Boyd Educational Oppportunity Program presented its first distinguished alumni awards at Homecoming 2005.
The Distinguished Alumni Award was presented to Deborah Gray White '71, Ph.D. A graduate of Binghamton University 's Educational Opportunity Program, she is currently a Distinguished Professor of History at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ and is the author and editor of over 10 published books, including the internationally and scholarly acclaimed, "Ar'n't I A Woman? Female Slaves in the Plantation South." Throughout her over 25 years in academia, Gray White has taught courses in history to both graduate and undergraduate students and served as the chair of the Department of History at Rutgers University. She has spoken at a myriad of regional, national and international conferences.
Furthermore, Gray White has served as a consultant for the Public Broadcasting System (PBS), for the Blackside Productions series This Far by Faith , for the Home and Garden Network Show Homes of the Underground Railroad as well as being an associate to the Scholars-in-Residence Program for the Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture.
Even with all her academic and professional accomplishments, she remains proud of being an alumna of Binghamton University 's Educational Opportunity Program. She is an exemplary example of leadership and fortitude.
The EOP Alumni Award of Excellence is given to an alumnus or alumna who, through their current and past actions continues to epitomize the mission and philosophy of the Educational Opportunity Program. This year, it was Jorge Chinea, '80, Ph.D.. Hailing from an economically, academically and socially disadvantaged background, Chinea became a student at Binghamton University in 1976 after spending 2 years at Bronx Community College. He found solace in the family-like atmosphere of EOP and challenge in the academic rigor of the University. With his love of music and pride in his culture, he founded and directed the Latin American Music Department within WHRW radio in 1978, intending to instill reggae, calypso, disco, salsa, meringue, soul and jazz into an environment that had previously only embraced the Euro-American genre of music.
For his many accomplishments, Chinea has been recognized by Who's Who in the Midwest, named a Resident Scholar at the Library of Congress, inducted into the Sigma Xi Honor Society, The Scientific Research Society at Wayne State University, and received the President's Award for Teaching, also at Wayne State University. Currently an associate professor of Latino and Latin-American history at Wayne State University, he is a published author of articles and book reviews in over ten scholarly journals, as well as the author of Race and Labor in the Hispanic Caribbean: The West Indian Worker Experience in Puerto Rico, 1800-1850.
Beyond his professional and personal undertakings, Chinea has remained a fervent supporter of the educational opportunity program, playing a key role in a letter-writing campaign to the state government when EOP funds were threatened.
The Michael V. Boyd Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Louis Del Valle '76. He received his master's degree in public policy analysis and Administration in 1978 and was an administrative assistant to EOP. During his tenure at Binghamton University he held numerous positions. He served as an academic counselor where he supported the self determination of his counselees. He was their mentor, uncle, father and friend, not only to his students but to the members of the community. When his colleague and good friend Michael Boyd passed away, he stepped in to provide direction in that difficult time and was the interim director for two years, serving with a wonderful snese of humor and a great commitment and dedication and love of EOP. He spoke out, rallied and advocated the importance and benefits of the program and its students which has affected the lives of hundreds if not thousands of students. In October 2004, Del Valle retired from the Educational Opportunity Program, the first person to do so at Binghamton University.
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