As a third-year graduate student in the Statistics Ph.D. Program at North Carolina State University, Gina maintains a 3.9 GPA and holds two impressive national fellowships: the NSF and AT&T Graduate Research Fellowships. She is conducting two research projects, she is a mentor for an undergraduate research program in computational statistics, and she presides over two student organizations at NC State: We Connect Now (WNC-NCSU) and the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in the Sciences NCSU Chapter (SACNAS-NCSU).
In recognition for the great work that she is doing on the campus to promote diversity, equity and inclusion she just received the “Outstanding Student Award”, a university-wide diversity award. She was nominated by the Office for Institutional Equity & Diversity.
Her nomination reads “Ms Gina-Maria Pomann is the primary graduate student founder and mentor of We Connect Now (WCN) – NCSU Chapter. Her leadership in empowering students with disabilities to pursue higher education is critical and outstanding. NC State has not had an organization for students with disabilities since 2000 when the Student Organization for Disability Awareness (SODA) disbanded. Several students have tried over the years to bring people together to start a group again without success. Ms. Pomann recognized and responded to this unmet need. She established – We Connect Now (WCN) – NCSU Chapter, a student organization through the Student Organization Resource Center. We Connect Now is dedicated to uniting people interested in rights and issues affecting people with disabilities, with particular emphasis on college students and access to higher education and employment issues. Ms. Pomann led the group as they organized a We Connect Now chapter, created a new Facebook page (“WCN@NCSU”), held sessions on graduate school funding and skills and tactics for taking the GRE; planned a peer mentoring program; participated in Diversity Week; and networked at Meet and Greet events. After nearly a twelve year break, Gina-Maria Pomann has come forward with vision and leadership to bring people together so that students with disabilities can succeed in their studies by getting the information and support they need. For this work, she deserves a University Diversity Award.”