For her efforts to improve the quality of life in the minority community, Penn State Harrisburg faculty member Chiara Sabina has been named the winner of the Coretta Scott King Women for Diversity Award presented by Women Connect magazine.
An assistant professor of social science, Sabina was formally honored at the second annual Women ConnectAwards Celebration March 2 at the Hershey Lodge and Convention Center.
Presented in partnership with Penn State Harrisburg, the celebration will feature Bernice A. King, daughter of the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King, as the keynoter.
Patricia L. Gadsden, founder and editor-in-chief of Women Connect, said “This award honors the legacy of Coretta Scott King who embraced the best in all women from all cultures.” Sabina “is one of six award winners who have consistently demonstrated commitment to diversity and inclusion in both professional and personal endeavors,” she said.
In late 2009, Sabina received a $680,000 federal grant to help eliminate a research gap in profiling victimization in the Latino community.
The two-year support from the National Institute of Justice will fund study of the national level of dating violence and victimization among Latino adolescents which Sabina terms a “much more understudied” group than others in that community.
Sabina explains, “The main idea is to investigate the level of dating violence in relationships along with victimization from peers, siblings, and maltreatment from parents. This will offer a more comprehensive view of victimization.”
The funded research builds on Sabina’s previous work, also supported by the National Institute of Justice, which profiled the level of female victimization in the Latino community.
