Assistant Director for Justice, Equity and Inclusion is Recognized with Holocaust Museum’s First Luminary Award

As Dominican University’s assistant director for justice, equity and inclusion, Amy Omi ’02 shines a light on the healing power of community-building. 

It’s work that has earned her the aptly named Luminary Award from the Illinois Holocaust Museum’s Young Professional Board (YPB).

Omi is one of three recipients of the inaugural award, which recognizes the efforts of individuals who create positive change within their community and reinforces the museum’s focus on those who “serve as a bright light during darkness.” It was presented during the YPB’s 10th anniversary fundraising event in October. 

Omi was honored for her work with Dominican’s Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation Center, which aims to resist racial injustice and social inequity on campus and in the greater community. Omi’s initiatives have included the creation of Racial Healing Circles, where participants learn to see themselves in each other, and Affinity Circles, where needs and concerns of a common group are shared as relationships are built. These circles have been open to students, faculty and staff.

Omi also helped launch the College Leadership Summit: Make Your Voice Count, which is held annually at the Illinois Holocaust Museum in Skokie, and encourages college students to reflect on topics like social justice, human rights and inclusion. 

During Omi’s time on the planning committee between 2018 and 2021, about 60 DU student leaders attended the summit, she said.

“It is such an honor to have contributed to the development of this incredible program and to be recognized by the Illinois Holocaust Museum for my involvement,” Omi said. “Justice work is never done in isolation, but through relationships. I’ve been grateful to the incredible DU alumnae/i—Aeshah Aljuwaybir ’20, Iyleah Hernandez ’22, Armani Brockman ’19, Asma Alneel ’19, and Alecx Hernandez ’20—who contributed to the development of the College Leadership Summit and who continue to bring a social justice lens to the work they do beyond Dominican.”

Omi, who joined Dominican University in 2011 as a music liturgist, shares the 2024 Luminary Award with Micah Ariel-Rohr, assistant director of the Israel Education Center at the Jewish United Fund in Chicago, and Dion Dawson, founder of a nonprofit combating food insecurity in Chicago through home deliveries of fresh produce.