Deanna Cherry ’93

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At a time when relationships between ethnic groups are increasingly strained, Deanna Cherry has devoted herself to promoting understanding and equality. With dual interdisciplinary majors in Development Studies, and Intergroup Relations and Discrimination, the latter an individualized major, she has placed herself at the heart of some of the most controversial issues on campus and in society.

Throughout her college career, Deanna’s quest for academic challenges has been paralleled by an abiding concern for social issues. She conducted field studies in Washington, D.C., interning as an assistant policy analyst for the National Urban League. She took part in a research project in Benin, West Africa. She participated in the UCLA Undergraduate Research and Training Program in Urban Poverty and volunteered at the Estelle Van Meter Multipurpose Center in South Central Los Angeles, an organization dedicated to meeting the needs of the elderly in the community.

For Deanna, however, the UCLA community has always been as important as the larger one. She served on the ASUCLA Board of Directors and the Chancellor’s Advisory Council on Diversity, as well as the Ethnic and Gender Studies Requirement Committee. She was a founding member of the Development Studies Club and edited the group’s newsletter. In a lighter vein, she performed as Joe Bruin during 1988-89.

A member of the College Honors program, Deanna has received numerous awards for scholastic excellence. Her most lasting legacy at UCLA, however, is far less tangible – the small but discernable chinks that she has made in the barriers that separate people from different worlds.