Reyes Luna

Doctoral Program student Reyes Luna was awarded the 21st Annual Diversity Champion Award at the Unity Luncheon on February 26th. The Unity Luncheon is a Cal Poly Pomona Tradition. It is organized and co-hosted by the different affinity groups on campus and acknowledges members of the campus for their contributions as leader in the pursuit of Diversity and Social Justice. The award is presented to people who are connected to the University and work towards improving conditions within affinity group or campus wide. Each affinity group can nominate and select as recipient from the faculty/staff side and one student. Reyes was selected by the Pride Alliance affinity group for his work on issues related to the LGBT community on campus.

Reyes has a long-standing history with social justice. He is a former president of Pride Alliance, and has served as interim coordinator of the Pride Center in the past. Currently, Reyes is the president of the Latino Faculty Staff and Student Association, which is one of the affinity groups on campus to promote diversity and social justice for the Latino community.

When asked about being given the award, Reyes said, "I am and was deeply honored to be recognized for my work by Pride Alliance. I am committed to improving conditions of all students on this campus as it relates to issues of diversity and social justice. To be acknowledged for my efforts is rewarding and only drives me to continue to make a change where I have the ability to do so. Part of my unplanned acceptance speech was about role modeling and being comfortable with who you are. I shared in college I was not an out man. During my college years there were very few role models and acceptance of difference was not always the case, especially for someone that is LGBT. I wanted to be out and proud and to role model for students, faculty, and staff that it is ok to be a member of the LGBT community and that if we expect change we need to be visible and work together to create change."

Congratulations to Reyes Luna! The award is well deserved!