Rodrigues Honored with 2010 Distinguished Alumnae Award
May 05, 2010
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Donna (Ghize) Rodrigues '68 was presented with Emmanuel College's Distinguished Alumnae Award in recognition of her outstanding vision, commitment and achievement in the field of education. Rodgriques accepted her award as part of the Education department's "Celebrate Teaching" event held in the Modular Meeting Space on May 5th.
Rodrigues, who earned her bachelor's degree in English and Spanish literature, holds a master's degree in Spanish literature from the Universidad de las Americas, Puebla, Mexico and Worcester State College. She also received a M.Ed. from Harvard Graduate School of Education where she was awarded a Hiatt Fellowship.
Rodrigues was a public school teacher and part-time professor for 28 years. In 1996, after a year of planning with Clark University in Worcester, she opened the University Park Campus School and served as its principal. The school was designed to prepare students in the poorest section of Worcester for college and represented a unique partnership among a university, a neighborhood and a public school. University Park has attracted national attention as a model achievement for students of color, standards-based success and collaboration. In a recent survey of graduates from 2003 to 2007, with an extremely strong response rate, 90% of alums reported to have graduated from college or are on track to complete a degree.
Currently, Rodriques is associate vice president of Jobs for the Future: Education for Economic Opportunity, where she works with the Early College High School Initiative to help create quality schools for underrepresented students. She is the founding director of the Clark/University Park Campus School Institute for Student Success, a training institute to train teachers and school leaders in the methods for success used at University Park. She also serves on Emmanuel's Education Advisory Council.
As part of the ceremony, the Education department also recognized the 2010 inductees into the Pi Lambda Theta Honor Society: Chelsey Bernard '10, Abigail Brenkach '10, Brittany Cort '10, Amanda Donegan '10, Jessica Jennings '10, Kelly Melia '10, Margaret Regan '10, Matthew Roberge '10, Jenell Tilley '10.
