Kudos: Ahmed, Spinelli

Ismael Ahmed, associate provost, participated in a round-table and community discussion on President Obama's representative significance for minority voting rights at the Charles H. Wright Museum.

UM-Dearborn's Difference Maker website received an Award of Merit in the 28th Annual Higher Education Marketing Report. Hanon McKendry developed the Difference Makers website, working with members of the marketing communications and admissions offices.

Emily Spinelli, professor of Spanish, emerita, received the prestigious Orden de Isabel la Católica award during a ceremony held in Washington, D.C., at the residence of the Spanish ambassador to the United States. The award is granted by Juan Carlos, King of Spain, in recognition of services that promote Spanish culture and cultural exchange. She's pictured with Xavier Gisbert da Cruz, head of the Spanish Ministry of Education in the United States and Canada and Don Ramón Gil-Casares Satrústegui, Spanish ambassador to the United States.

Since her retirement from the UM-Dearborn, Spinelli has been working as the executive director of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP). The AATSP is a national organization of some 9500 members that promotes the study and teaching of the Spanish and Portuguese languages and their corresponding Hispanic, Luso-Brazilian and other related literatures and cultures at all levels of education.