Elisa Cozad '11 Honored at Public Service Graduation

Elisa Cozad '11 was honored with the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Service Award at the 2011 Public Service Graduation on April 21.  The annual event, held this year for the first time in the newly enclosed King Hall Courtyard, celebrates students completing the King Hall Public Service Law Program. 

The ceremony included remarks from Professor Carter "Cappy" White, who spoke on the importance of being able to tell a client's "story" in successfully advocating for them, and keynote speaker Patrick Mims, coordinator for the Sexually Exploited Minors Program for Bay Area Women Against Rape, who spoke of his journey to a career in public service.

In an impressive demonstration of the King Hall community's ongoing commitment to public service, more than half of the Class of 2011 completed the Public Service Law Program, an academic certification program designed to prepare students for public service careers.  Twenty-seven students were nominated for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Award, which is given each year to the graduating student or students who best exemplify Dr. King's vision and commitment to public service. 

This year's award winner, Elisa Cozad, was honored for service including two years with the Immigration Law Clinic, summers spent working at the Georgia Capital Defender in Atlanta and the Colorado Public Defender in Colorado Springs, as well as volunteer work with the Prison Law Office and the Federal Public Defender in Sacramento.  She also volunteered to organize and raise money for numerous special events and participated as a member of NLG and the Diversity Coalition.

In addition to more than 100 members of the Class of 2011, the well-attended event drew a large turnout of King Hall faculty, including Dean Kevin R. Johnson, Associate Deans Vikram Amar and Hollis Kulwin, and Professors Afra Afsharipour, Andrea Bjorklund, Holly Cooper, Floyd Feeney, Richard Frank, Krystal Calloway Jaime, Margaret Johns, Raha Jorjani, Courtney Joslin, Amagda Pérez, Rex Perschbacher, and Leticia Saucedo.  Alumni in attendance included Alumni Association Board President John Schick '72 and board members Gage Dungy '03, the Honorable Stacey Boulware Eurie '95, Kelly Borelli '92, Steve Boutin '72, Mike Van Horne '75, Grace Arupo '02, Charity Kenyon '77, Jerry Hobrecht '83, Gene Woo '85, Kara Ueda '00, Demetrious Shelton'93, and Michael Mills '97.

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