KINGSTON, R.I. — April 11, 2006 — Josepha Campinha-Bacote, a national health care expert on treating diverse populations, will receive the University of Rhode Island’s diversity award for lifetime achievement. She will be honored and will speak at the University’s 8th annual Diversity Awards celebration to be held at the Memorial Union Ballroom, Tuesday, April 18, 2006 at 6:30 PM.
President of Trans-cultural C.A.R.E. Associates, a private consultation service, Campinha-Bacote is one of the nation’s most influential theorists, consultants, and advocates on trans-cultural healthcare and mental health nursing. She is being honored for her leadership in positioning standards of cultural competence as central to healthcare training and preparation.
A third generation Cape Verdean, Campinha-Bacote has worked to enhance the level of cultural competence among employees of managed healthcare organizations, long-term medical centers, academic institutions, community outreach centers, the federal government, among others. Several colleges of nursing, pharmacy, social work and medicine have incorporated her model, “The Process of Cultural Competence in The Delivery of Healthcare Services: a Cultural competent Model of Care,” into their undergraduate and graduate programs of study.
As an advocate, she has served on a national task force under the U.S Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health, to develop national standards that address and correct inequities in the provision of healthcare to culturally and linguistically diverse populations.
After receiving a B. S. in nursing from the University of Rhode Island in 1974, she earned an M. S. from Texas Women’s University, an M. A. from Cincinnati Christian University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia. Presently, she is a Clinical Assistant Professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, and a consultant to the National Center for Cultural Competence, Washington, D.C.
A fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, Campinha-Bacote has received numerous honors and awards, including the Transcultural Nursing Society Leadership Award, and the Distinguished Lecturer Award from Sigma Theta Tau International. She was also honored by the URI College of Nursing as Alumnus of the Year in 2000, and by the URI Alumni Office with an Alumni Excellence Award in 2001.
In addition to Campinha-Bacote, the University of Rhode Island will honor several students, faculty, staff, administrators, and friends who have advanced the campaign for diversity and multiculturalism. Awards will be presented for contributions to undergraduate student excellence in academics, service, leadership and service, and arts and culture; graduate student excellence in academics, leadership, and service; faculty excellence in leadership and service; and staff/administrative excellence in leadership and service.
Previous recipients of the Diversity Award for Lifetime Achievement are University President Robert L. Carothers; Municipal Judge Frank Caprio of Providence; a Vice Provost of Urban Programs John McCray, Jr. and Director of the Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies Bernard LaFayette, Jr.
To attend the event or receive additional information about the event, please contact Mailee Kue, Multicultural Center, (401) 874-5829, maileekue@uri.edu; or Roxanne Gomes, Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity, and Diversity, (401) 874-4929, Roxanne@uri.edu. Voluntary donations are being accepted to defray the costs. For more information on the Diversity Awards, visit www.uri.edu/mcc.