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The Women’s Recognition Luncheon honored several women on the WSU campus for their accomplishments and impacts yesterday.

“I’m a firm believer that an institution needs to provide recognition for things that it values,” WSU interim president Dan Bernardo said. “WSU is a place where women can grow professionally and academically.”

The event has continued to grow for more than 20 years to award nominees that have made a difference.

Bernardo said this year had a record-breaking number of nominations, and they all did a wonderful job of embodying this year’s National Women’s History Month theme: working to form a more perfect union with women in public service and government.

This was an appropriate theme for the WSU institution because all of the nominees and winners had a great impact on what happens in this community, he said.

The women honored at the luncheon are held to a high standard of feminist principles and continue to inspire others around them.

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Among the winners, WSU senior Dominique Norman was described as a “fierce advocate for change” with her foundation of #WakeUpWSU, an organization dedicated to exposing injustices toward minorities at WSU.

A first generation college student, Norman has taken significant steps in improving the community in her time at WSU, including creating a plus-sized apparel option for design students in the apparel, merchandizing, design and textiles department.

Candis Claiborn won the Faculty Woman of Distinction Award and was honored for being first female dean of WSU. An individual that nominated her described her as “a model to women who want to be engineers.”

The Lifetime Achievement Award went to Dorothy Wiley for her work with victims of domestic violence over the last 35 years. She “listened to stories of domestic violence when most others would dismiss them,” said her nominator.

Finally, Anna King received a standing ovation in addition to the Woman of the Year Award. She was described as embodying the theme of this year’s National Women’s History Month. Her nominators describe her by saying “her commitment does not end when the broadcast is over.”

Reporting by Shannon Steffen