About the Awards
The 2023 Diversity and Inclusion Impact Awards recognized a faculty and staff member from the College of Arts and Sciences, School of Leadership and Education Sciences and Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering. Awardees were nominated and selected for their outstanding contributions and exceptional leadership in advancing diversity, equity, inclusion and social justice on- and off-campus. All awardees have provided exemplary service to the university community, worked tirelessly to support students and have demonstrated a sustained commitment to making the University of San Diego a more diverse, equitable and anti-racist institution. The awards program celebrated the numerous contributions of each awardee, and expressed the university's gratitude and appreciation for their sustained commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and social justice.
2023 Award Recipients
- Jillian Tullis, PhD
- Razel B. Milo, PhD
- Hazel J. Claros
- Frances Laviscount, MS
- Necla Tschirgi, PhD
- Alison Sanchez, PhD
- April Cash, MA
- Roy L. Brooks, JD
- Michael Chavez, JD
- Rebekka Jez, EdD
- Susan Lord, PhD
- Elisa Lurkis, MA
Faculty Award Recipient
College of Arts and Sciences
Jillian Tullis, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication in the College of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Tullis’ teaching and research interests focus on health communication, specifically communication about dying and death in healthcare settings. Tullis also co-developed an honors course with Dr. Suzanne Stolz in the School of Leadership and Education Sciences (SOLES) about disability and social innovation, which they are teaching for the second time this semester. Dr. Tullis helped launch a Black Lives Matters (BLM) course with Dr. May Fu in Ethnic Studies, which now has a permanent home in the Africana Studies minor.
Dr. Tullis’ scholarship uses qualitative methods to study topics such as hospice team communication, tumor boards, spirituality, dying, death, quality of life, and a “good death.” In addition to an ongoing project about dying well, Tullis is also investigating the end of life care practices among enslaved Africans. Her research has appeared in numerous journals and she has been invited to give talks about her work at Death Salon, UNESCO’s Futures Literacy Summit, and the Annual Death, Dying, and Disposal conference in England. Last year she appeared on The Death Studies Podcast, and Johns Hopkins’ Public Health On Call Podcast.
Born and raised in California, she returned to her favorite state in 2015 after living in Florida and North Carolina for a decade. She spent the first year back convincing her mother that this was an improvement; (San Diego still wasn’t close enough for mom)- at least now they could drive 5 hours and meet in a place like Santa Barbara. When not talking about dying and death, which happens a lot, she is changing her hair color, or shopping for vintage fashion. Dr. Tullis loves to watch movies, especially independent films and recently attended her 4th Sundance Film Festival. She is working on developing her knitting skills, considers herself fortunate enough to live near the beach in San Diego with her partner Walt and her Velcro dog, Ruby.