Laureate Recognizes 2017 Here for Good Awards Winners and Honorees and Releases 2017 Global Impact Report
In 25 countries, at nearly 70 institutions, and in the lives of more than a million students, the Laureate International Universities network is impacting communities worldwide through its commitment to being Here for Good. The 2017 Laureate Global Impact Report highlights this impact by announcing the 2017 Here for Good winners and honorees, as well as detailing the various network-wide programs, institutional commitments, Certified B Corporation® status, and awards and scholarships.
In 2016 alone, more than $785 million was provided in scholarships and discounts to students at Laureate institutions. Free or low-cost clinics on Laureate campuses worldwide provided more than 714,000 medical services to over 193,000 people. And in just one month during Laureate’s annual Global Days of Service, volunteers from institutions and offices volunteered over 220,000 hours in their communities.
In addition, through the announcement of the 2017 Here for Good Awards winners and honorees in the 2017 Global Impact Report, Laureate is proud to recognize 20 specific examples of incredible service and innovation from across its vast network.
The Here for Good Awards are awarded annually to members of the Laureate network who are creating exceptional positive social impact in their community and world. The awards have two categories, student/graduate and faculty/staff, and one winner and nine honorees are selected in each category. In 2017, the awards had the largest number of applicants ever, with more than 300 applications in three languages. The stories of the winners and honorees of the awards are featured in Laureate’s 2017 Global Impact Report.
The winners in 2017 hail from Laureate institutions in Brazil and Mexico, the two countries in the Laureate network with the largest footprint. The winners in the faculty/staff category are Fatima Casa Nova and Alessandra Bahia from Faculdade dos Guararapes (FG) – Centro Universitário in Recife, Brazil. Recife was the center of the 2015 outbreak of the Zika virus in the country. It was there that researchers discovered a link between Zika-infected mothers and babies born with microcephaly, a rare neurological disorder with no known cure. Casa Nova, a psychology professor at FG, and Bahia, a law professor, organized a congress of Microcephaly at the university to bring together medical professionals, government officials, and other community actors to launch an initial response to the Zika outbreak and rise in microcephaly cases. The two professors then started a special program at the FG Community Clinic to provide holistic care to families with children born with microcephaly. The clinic has now served more than 50 families affected by Zika and involved over 600 students.
The winner in the student/graduate category is Carolina Zuheill Rosales, a master’s student at the Universidad del Valle de México (UVM). A medical doctor by training, Zuheill provides healthcare to the most isolated populations in Mexico through mobile medical clinics run by her non-profit, GUIMEDIC. She mobilizes over 1,200 volunteers a year to run clinics in five Mexican states, serving more than 55,000 people in 2016 alone. Zuheill has also been recognized as a local YouthActionNet fellow and Laureate Global Fellow for her social entrepreneurial venture.
As the largest network of higher education institutions in the world, Laureate plays a unique role in the lives of students and communities, providing the educational tools for students and staff to succeed, while leaving an indelible mark on the development of individuals and countries. The 2017 Here for Good Awards and Global Impact Report are just a few of the many stories from around the Laureate network that demonstrate how when our are students succeed, countries prosper and sociecities benefit.
