MUW’s Dr. Tom Velek Nominated For IHL Diversity Award

COLUMBUS, Miss. (PRESS RELEASE) – This year’s recipient of Mississippi University for Women’s Diversity Educator of the Year award was described as “a champion of diversity” on campus and in the community.

Dr. Tom Velek, professor of history in the College of Arts and Sciences at The W, was honored at a luncheon today on campus attended by university administrators, faculty and staff representatives, past award recipients and guests.

Each year IHL gives each university the opportunity to nominate one individual for Diversity Educator of the Year.

Nominees are evaluated based on positive contributions to the campus and the state, including advancing diversity on campus and within the university campus community, exemplifying service universities provide to local communities and the state, and demonstrating accomplishments that have benefited all Mississippians.

Each university nominee will be recognized in conjunction with the IHL Board meeting Thursday, February 18.

In a nomination letter, Velek was noted for his efforts to advance diversity across racial, ethnic, religious, sexual preference and physical ability lines.

From the start of his teaching career, Velek has been committed to incorporating diversity in his coursework. He has regularly taught Latin American Republics and The Rise and Fall of Communism, A Global Study.

As part of his sabbatical, he researched China, Vietnam and North Korea and created a new course titled “Socialism and Communism in the Modern Era.”

In addition, he studied the Holocaust for more than 20 years, developing a course that focuses on genocide in Rwanda, Cambodia and Bosnia.

The course titled Genocide Studies will be taught for the first time this spring.

As director of the Honors College from 2008-2015, Velek brought in speakers, exposing students, faculty and staff, as well as the Columbus community, to racial and religious diversity.

In 2015, the forum hosted its first ever American born Muslim, Arsalan Iftikhar, a well-known human rights attorney and author of “Islamic Pacifism.”

The forum has also featured well-known African-American speakers, including Dick Gregory, civil rights activist; Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré, Joint Task Force commander during Hurricane Katrina; and Fred Gray, attorney for Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr.

In the community, Velek is actively involved with the Mississippi Soccer Association in which he advances physical ability and racial diversity through the local youth soccer program in Columbus.

He was responsible for bringing TOP Soccer-a program that pairs special needs players with able-bodied players-to Columbus in 2012.

He also wrote and obtained a grant from Soccer Across America, supported by the Columbus-Lowndes Recreation Authority, to offer a clinic to a local, public elementary school in order to introduce children, predominately African-American, to the sport.

He was honored as National Coach of the Year (boys), United States Youth Soccer in 2013.

According to Gregory Lewis, executive director of the Columbus-Lowndes Recreation Authority, “Dr. Velek is a true advocate for diversity in the city of Columbus.”

Lewis credited Velek with increasing minority participation growth in soccer.

In her nomination letter, Dr. Leslie Stratyner, professor of English, said, “As you can see, during his 18 years at The W, Dr. Thomas Velek has been and continues to be a champion of diversity at this institution. In every way, he merits the IHL Diversity Award.”