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Mariel Marshall, a second-year student in the Division of Clinical Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling, has received a Diversity Award from the University Office for Diversity and Inclusion at UNC-Chapel Hill. The award recognizes people who have furthered diversity, equity, and inclusion at Carolina and in the community.

“I always thought that I didn’t do enough to make a change,” Marshall said. “Now that I’m here […] I know that what I do makes an impact.”

Marshall is president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) at UNC-CH; she ensures that UNC-CH websites are diversity inclusive and create a safe and accessible space for all forms of diversity, including those beyond ethnicity and race.

Eileen Burker, the division’s director, said Marshall’s work in bringing leftover food from after-hours events to homeless shelters in Orange, Wake, and Durham Counties speaks to her dedication to the community.

“Mariel always goes above and beyond,” Burker said. “She is a quiet star.”

Marshall will graduate in May after studying the top-ranked program’s dual-track curriculum, which focuses on psychiatric and developmental disabilities. She has also served on the Diversity and Inclusion Leadership Team in the Department of Allied Health Sciences, in which the division is housed. The University recognized Marshall’s achievement and other recipients at a reception held at the CURRENT ArtSpace in Chapel Hill in late April.

Eileen Burker, PhD, CRC, is also an associate adjunct professor in the UNC School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry.

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