2026 Institutional Excellence Awards

 

Meagan Nance serves as the inaugural Director of Inclusion Initiatives within Student Affairs at the Cal Poly Maritime Academy. In addition to overseeing the Inclusion Center on the Solano Campus, she advises the Black Student Association and the Maritime Canoe Club and has become a primary advocate for identity-based student clubs, ensuring every student feels empowered to contribute to the campus narrative. She has been a pillar of community, breaking down silos and fostering cross-divisional dialogue, including leading the inaugural Pride in Maritime Symposium and supporting the Women in Maritime Leadership Conference. With her out-of-the-box thinking, she moves beyond administrative compliance to actively dismantle systemic barriers, securing grants to support marginalized students and advancing strategies that bridge student affairs and academic pedagogy. Her most visible achievement is transforming the Inclusion Center from a peripheral space into the heart of campus life, now a hub for connection and belonging through innovative, culturally responsive programming. Her sustained commitment, integrity, and compassion have led to lasting improvements in campus climate and exemplify the spirit of the Dolores Huerta “Si Se Puede” Award for Transformational Leadership. 

 

Beginning as the Society of Black Engineers and Scientists in 1974, the Cal Poly chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) strives to support current Cal Poly STEM students while cultivating culturally responsible engineers and scientists for the future. With a roster of 27 students, NSBE’s impact is not measured in numbers but in quality and persistence. They are a three-time winner of Regional Chapter of the Year and were awarded National Chapter of the Year in 2021. Their staff advisor, Dr. Michael Whitt, a Biomedical Engineering associate professor at Cal Poly and recipient of the 2021 MLK Legacy Award, acts as a mentor for students and helps them flourish. NSBE demonstrates excellence through its robust scholarship programs, engaging programming, and is one of the largest university-recognized African American academic and social student organizations in the country.

 

The Cal Poly Maritime Canoe Club builds community by hosting events and collaborating with local partners to connect students from the Hawaiʻi diaspora. Rooted in the tradition of Hawaiian outrigger canoe paddling, the club honors and perpetuates this cultural practice through education, exercise, and shared experience, while teaching paddling skills and deepening appreciation for canoeing heritage. Open to all, it fosters teamwork, cultural understanding, and meaningful friendships that support members throughout their time at Cal Poly Maritime. By elevating Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) perspectives, the club helps educate the broader campus community and promotes a culture of respect and inclusion. Guided by the philosophy “He Waʻa He Moku, He Moku He Waʻa” (“The canoe is an island, the island is a canoe”), it inspires unity, shared responsibility, and lasting connections both on and off the water.

 

The Women’s Engineering Program (WEP) is directed by Helene Finger, a longtime member of the Civil Engineering faculty who has received national recognition for her leadership, including being named a 2023 SWE Fellow and one of the Society of Women Engineers’ national advisers of the year. Under her leadership, the Women’s Engineering Program supports the recruitment, retention, and advancement of women students and faculty in engineering and computer science by focusing on outreach, mentorship, community-building events, and professional development opportunities. They work closely with the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), Cal Poly’s student-run branch of the national organization, which connects students to career development programming and support and is recognized as one of the largest and most successful in the nation. For over 25 years, WEP has been a driving force in advancing equity, access, and belonging within engineering at Cal Poly.

 

Dayana Limon Santiago is an Honors Agricultural Science student with an emphasis in Agricultural Engineering and minors in Child Development and Agricultural Education. She has demonstrated impactful leadership in multilingual agricultural communication, expanding access and belonging for Spanish-speaking communities. In 2025, she launched the first fully developed Spanish-language live production at the Future Farmers of America State Conference. She built on this work in 2026 Executive Spanish Production Director and host for California Future Farmers of America alongside Dr. Mike Moses. In addition, she has presented research related to the livestream experience at the National Agriculture Communications Symposium. As a Cal Poly Scholar and BEACoN Research mentee with Nuestra Ciencia, she researches the impact of identity-based organizations on Latinx aspiring teachers. She has worked internationally during her summer internship with the California Milk Advisory Board, co-led an award-winning American Educational Research Association session, and remains active within Cal Poly’s Latinos in Agriculture club. Her involvement fosters belonging, language accessibility, inclusive design, and support across multiple organizations.

 

Dr. Nishanta Rajakaruna has served Cal Poly as a Professor of Plant Biology in the Biological Sciences Department for nine years, including four years as a Faculty-in-Residence, during which he created lasting traditions and built meaningful relationships with a diverse community of students. As the founding Faculty Fellow and Coordinator of Cal Poly’s National and International Fellowships and Scholarships (NIFS) office within Academic Affairs, Dr. Rajakaruna has built from the ground up an infrastructure that is transforming how students from all backgrounds access prestigious national and international opportunities. He has built strategic partnerships with the International Center, EOP Scholars, TRIO Achievers, Cal Poly Scholars, Career Services, Graduate Education, the Center for Service in Action, and student organizations to expand access to nationally competitive fellowships and provide sustained support for historically underrepresented students. Beyond his work with students, Dr. Rajakaruna also serves as a Fulbright Alumni Ambassador for the Institute of International Education and the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, a role through which he actively promotes and expands Fulbright participation across the CSU and beyond.

 

Dr. Zoë Wood serves as the Associate Dean for Student Diversity and Student Success and a Computer Science professor in the College of Engineering. During her 22 years at Cal Poly, she has demonstrated exceptional leadership in advancing equitable practices by identifying and addressing structural barriers that affect student success. Central to this work is her use of disaggregated data and strong data analytics to highlight inequities, inform institutional decision-making, and strengthen pathways for those historically underserved in STEM. She strategically convenes stakeholders to drive collective action, amplifying diverse perspectives while centering career readiness and student persistence. She leads the College’s JEDI committee and has worked diligently to sustain funding and support for the Multicultural Engineering Program. Dr. Wood has also led the implementation of the Summer Jump Start program and supported collaboration between Engineering Possibilities in College (EPIC) and the Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP). Her work continues to foster a more inclusive engineering community while driving meaningful change and a sense of belonging across the College.