Yoke-Sim Gunaratne, Executive Director
Yoke-Sim Gunaratne is a native of Malaysia where she received her Bachelor
of Social Sciences at the Science University of Malaysia. Yoke-Sim met her
husband, a native of Sri Lanka, a now retired International Journalism Professor
at MSUM, and author, in Malaysia and together they moved to Queensland,
Australia. While in Queensland, Yoke-Sim earned her Masters of Arts Degree
in Sociology from the University of Queensland. While in Australia, Yoke-Sim
was an instructor at the University of Central Queensland. In 1986, Yoke-Sim
and her husband moved to Moorhead, MN where he had accepted a University
Professorship in the Mass Communications Department of Minnesota State
University – Moorhead.
Yoke-Sim accepted a position as a Community Development Officer with the
International Office at NDSU, and then later became a refugee resettlement
manager for Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota (5 years).
In 1993, after several community forums and meetings, it was decided a
diversity project was necessary in Fargo-Moorhead to address arising issues
from the growing ethnic and minority populations. The Cultural Diversity
Project was created by the cities of Fargo, West Fargo (ND), Moorhead and
Dilworth (MN) in collaboration with Cass County, North Dakota and Clay County,
Minnesota as a regional diversity initiative. Yoke-Sim was hired by the search
committee as the Director of the project in 1994 and in 1998 assumed the
duties of the Executive Director of the newly formed 501(c)3 nonprofit, Cultural
Diversity Resources.
In addition to serving as the Executive Director of Cultural Diversity Resources,
Yoke-Sim has been actively involved in the community.
She has served on the City of Fargo Human Relations Committee for 7 years
and served as the chair of that committee for two of those seven years. She
also served on the Moorhead Schools Human Rights Committee, Fargo Public
Schools Diversity Council, MSUM Steering Committee for “Training of Campuses
against Racism”(TOCAR), the Moorhead Library Board, the Lake Agassiz
Regional Library Board, and co-facilitates the SEED Program (Seeking Education
Equity and Diversity), a program developed to assist area teachers with finding
innovative ways to engage their increasingly diverse classrooms.
Yoke-Sim Gunaratne is passionate about her work and proud of the
accomplishments she and the organization have made over the years. One
shining moment in the organization was when the City of Fargo received the
All City Livability Award in 1999, this is a national award. This award meant that
the City of Fargo is welcoming of all people. Yoke-Sim has worked hard over the
years, not for the city, or the organization itself, but the people Cultural Diversity
Resources serves every day.
|
