Each year, the University honors staff colleagues who exemplify Notre Dame’s core values of accountability, teamwork, integrity, leadership in excellence and leadership in mission, as well as those who make exceptional contributions in a given year, with Presidential Awards.
The Presidential Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award recognizes a staff member who has exercised leadership or made significant contributions in advancing diversity, equity and inclusion at the University or in the greater Michiana community.
Roberto Casarez, Ph.D. is the academic technology specialist of the Teaching and Learning Technologies (TLT) group in the Office of Information Technology. Roberto is a passionate advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion in the OIT and the broader University. Roberto pursued his advanced degree in learning technologies because of the accessibility and inclusion gaps he himself experienced as a student. He passionately wants to be part of the solution and serve as an advocate for students with diverse backgrounds, helping them thrive and feel at home at Notre Dame. Roberto has been a unifying force in the OIT’s implementation of Yuja Panorama digital accessibility software. This software helps faculty to make multimodal course content to serve students with diverse learning preferences. He inspired the TLT team to go beyond the minimum requirements in the learning management system and has formed an Accessibility Working Group with Panorama to ensure maximal deployment of this powerful tool. The TLT team helped modify the Moreau First Year course content using Panorama in order to achieve a 100 percent accessible rating. Panorama is now being deployed on University websites to give web viewers the ability to customize how they consume publicly available content. Roberto is a valued member of the Notre Dame community who shares his many talents, skills and experience to make us a more welcoming and inclusive University.
Kelsey Forry is the program director for alumni education in the Alumni Association. Kelsey Forry is a true diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) champion, not only in her professional role but in the numerous ways she volunteers her time and talents in support of fellow members of the Notre Dame family. She demonstrates remarkable initiative in advancing DEI within the Alumni Association and University Relations teams. Through her spearheading DEI programs and initiatives, she helps to create meaningful impact and change and raises awareness about challenges and opportunities. Kelsey models inclusive leadership practices and challenges others to embrace opportunities to build a more diverse, inclusive community. Kelsey truly cares about people, and in her role as the alumni education program director with ThinkND, she consistently goes above and beyond to help ensure inclusivity and accessibility to all members of our community.
Leigh Hayden is the director of marketing and communications in DeBartolo Performing Arts Center (DPAC). Leigh embodies what we look for as a leader by bringing a genuine love for the arts and our Catholic mission into all that she does, and by leveraging the University’s mission toward greater diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). Under Leigh’s leadership, DPAC developed a comprehensive DEI statement and set of commitments. She spearheaded a community outreach initiative to deepen DPAC’s relationship with the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and other people of color) community. Internally, she has worked with the directors of programming for the performing arts and the Browning Cinema to amplify BIPOC artists’ voices by bringing them or their films to the center.