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Franc Nunoo-Quarcoo: 2018 Harold R. Johnson Diversity Service Award

Franc portrait 2018

Stamps Professor Franc Nunoo-Quarco has been selected as one of six University of Michigan faculty members to receive 2018 Harold R. Johnson Diversity Service Awards, given in recognition of service that contributes to the development of a culturally and ethnically diverse U‑M community. The six 2018 awardees are Sara Ahbel-Rappe, Elizabeth R. Cole, Nicolai Lehnert, Franc Nunoo-Quarcoo, Allison Steiner, and Robert Joseph Taylor.

Faculty members at the University of Michigan continue to play a vital role in the success of furthering our diversity, equity and inclusion efforts,” says Robert Sellers, vice provost for equity and inclusion and chief diversity officer. This year’s recipients epitomize this role and have made significant and lasting impacts — not just in their respective fields, but across our entire university community.”

Established in 1996, the award is given in honor of Harold Johnson, dean emeritus of the School of Social Work. The awards will be presented during a ceremony and dinner on May 8, and each honoree receives a $5,000 stipend.

Nunoo-Quarcoo, professor of art and design, Penny W. Stamps School of Art and Design, is the chair of the school’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee and helped initiate and found the Stamps in Color student group, which aims to increase the creative, social and professional opportunities of Stamps’ artists and designers of color.

As a Stamps in Color coordinator, Nunoo-Quarcoo has brought influential artists to speak at the school, sponsored a schoolwide trip to Kehinde Wiley’s exhibition and lecture at the Toledo Museum and partnered with North Campus units on MLK Symposium events.

As the programming liaison for the U‑M GalleryDAAS, Nunoo-Quarcoo has promoted the creative work of African-American artists and coordinated events that have been visited by thousands of U‑M students and faculty.

As part of the school’s DEI strategic planning committee, he helped lead the development and implementation of the plan’s goals, connecting students, faculty and staff and improving the climate for diverse community members who might feel overlooked or isolated, wrote Endi Poskovic, professor of art and design, Stamps School.

Along with taking the time to meet with students from nontraditional backgrounds, Nunoo-Quarcoo traveled to Sudan with U‑M students and faculty to help develop a visual identity and communication strategy for two United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage Sites.

Professor Nunoo-Quarcoo’s diligent efforts in promoting diversity have had a profound influence on the lives of our students, colleagues, faculty and staff, and the communities across the campus and beyond,” Poskovic wrote. His ability to engage students about the role of diverse cultural environments reflect his own commendable knowledge of and sensitivity to culture and history that go beyond conventional wisdom.”

Six receive 2018 Harold R. Johnson Diversity Service Awards | University Record