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Outstanding American by Choice
Award for naturalized citizens of the United States From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Outstanding American by Choice is an award given to naturalized United States citizens "who have achieved [...] extraordinary things"[1] by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) agency of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS).[2] It was established in January 2006 by Emilio T. Gonzalez, then the director of USCIS.[3] As of 2018, about 130 awards have been given.
Awardees
2006
- Marina Belotserkovsky, Soviet-born; Director of Russian Communications and Community Outreach at the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society.[4]
- José Luis Betancourt, Mexico-born and raised in Texas; Rear-Admiral of the United States Navy.[4]
- Guarione M. Diaz, Cuban-born; President and Chief Executive Officer of the Cuban American National Council.[4]
- Carlos M. Gutierrez, Cuban-born; U.S. Secretary of Commerce.[4]
- Zalmay Khalilzad, Afghan-born; United States Ambassador to Iraq.[4]
- Renu Khator, Indian-born; Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs at the University of South Florida.[4]
- Tom Lantos, Hungarian-born; member of the U.S. House of Representatives.[4]
- Guillermo Linares, Dominican-born; Commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs for New York City.[4]
- Caitriona Lyons, Irish-born; Refugee Program Coordinator for the State of Texas.[4]
- Jose E. Martinez, Dominican-born; U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Florida.[4]
- Mel Martínez, Cuban-born; member of the U.S. Senate.[4]
- Gepsie M. Metellus, Haitian-born; Executive Director of the Sant La Haitian Neighborhood Center.[4]
- Clementine M. Msengi, Rwandan-born; Founder and Executive Director of the Bright Move Network.[4]
- Anne M. O'Callaghan, Irish-born; executive director of the Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians.[4]
- Eduardo J. Padrón, Cuban-born; President of Miami Dade College.[4]
- Kiran C. Patel, Zambian-born; Chairman of the Patel Foundation for Global Understanding.[4]
- Marion P. Primomo, German-born; Physician, Hospice and Palliative Medicine.[4]
- Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Cuban-born; member of the U.S. House of Representatives.[4]
- John F. Timoney, Irish-born; Chief of Police of the Miami Police Department.[4]
- Fang A. Wong, Chinese-born; Special Operations Specialist with L3 Communications at ILEX Systems.[4]
2007
- Eduardo Aguirre, Cuban-born; United States Ambassador to the Kingdom of Spain and the Principality of Andorra.[5]
- Rasul Alsalih, Iraqi-born; United States Air Force.[5]
- Oluwasina Awolusi, Nigerian-born; United States Air Force.[5]
- Cristina V. Beato, Cuban-born; Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.[5]
- Katja Bullock, German-born; Special Assistant to the President for Presidential Personnel in The White House.[5]
- Josefina Carbonell, Cuban-born; Assistant Secretary for Aging at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.[5]
- Franklin Chang Diaz, Costa Rican-born; astronaut.[5]
- Manuel A. Diaz, Cuban-born; Mayor of Miami.[5]
- Manuel Dominguez, Cuban-born; United States Air Force.[5]
- Ricardo Ernst, Venezuelan-born; professor at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business.[5]
- Emilio Estefan, Cuban-born; musician, producer, entrepreneur.[5]
- Gloria Estefan, Mexican-born; singer-songwriter.[5]
- Luis Glaser, Austrian-born; Professor of Biology and Special Assistant to the President at the University of Miami.[5]
- Vartan Gregorian, Iranian-born; President of the Carnegie Corporation of New York.[5]
- Farooq Kathwari, Indian-born;[6] Chairman and CEO of Ethan Allen.[5]
- M.J. Khan, Pakistani-born; Houston City Council Member.[5]
- Alfonso Martinez-Fonts Jr., Cuban-born; Assistant Secretary of the Private Sector Office at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.[5]
- Alejandro Gomez Monteverde, Mexican-born; director/screenwriter.[5]
- Indra Nooyi, Indian-born; Chairman and chief executive officer of PepsiCo.[5]
- Tze Ng, Hong Kong-born; entrepreneur.[5]
- Miguel Orozco, Ecuadorian-born; community leader.[5]
- Dina Powell, Egyptian-born; Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.[5]
- Anna Prager, Polish-born; civic leader.[5]
- Mitzie A. Robinson, Jamaican-born; United States Coast Guard.[5]
- Samuel G. Saldívar, Mexican-born; Professor emeritus at the United States Military Academy.[5]
- John Shalikashvili, Polish-born; General in the United States Army.[5]
- Peter W. Schramm, Hungarian-born; Executive Director of the John M. Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs and Professor of Political Science at Ashland University.[5]
- Abida S. Shoyeb, Pakistani-born; Officer for the South Atlantic District Veterinary Command of the United States Army.[5]
- Antonio Taguba, Filipino-born; Major-General in the United States Army.[5]
- Van T. Thai, Vietnamese-born; United States Air Force.[5]
2008
- Elaine Chao, Taiwanese-born; United States Secretary of Transportation.[7]
- James S. C. Chao, Chinese-born; founder of the Foremost Group.[7]
- Anh Duong, Vietnamese-born; Science Advisor to the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information, Plans and Strategy at the Pentagon.[7]
- John Fugh, Chinese-born; United States Army.[7]
- Andy García, Cuban-born; actor.[7]
- Abul Hussam, Bangladeshi-born; professor at George Mason University.[7]
- Rosario Marin, Mexican-born; Treasurer of the United States.[7]
- Elsa Murano, Cuban-born; President of Texas A&M University.[7]
- Robert Olton, Barbadian-born; United States Army.
- Charles Simic, Serbian-born; Poet Laureate of the United States.[7]
- Albio Sires, Cuban-born; member of the U.S. House of Representatives.[7]
- Ramel Turic, Bosnian-born; United States Army.
- Duncan Wardle, British-born; Vice President Global Public Relations for Disney Parks.[7]
- Elie Wiesel, Romanian-born; writer.[7]
- Donald Zacherl, Canadian-born; United States Army.[7]
2009
- Joseph Cao, Vietnamese-born; member of the U.S. House of Representatives.[8]
- Subir Chowdhury, Bangladeshi-born; author of management books.[8]
- Eartha Dengler, German-born; Founder of the Immigrant City Archives.[8]
- Maria Hinojosa, Mexican-born; journalist and author.[8]
- Peter C. Lemon, Canadian-born; United States Army.[8]
- Eva A. Millona, Albanian-born; Executive Director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition.[8]
- Virginia M. C. da Mota, Portuguese-born; educator.[8]
- Eskinder Negash, Ethiopian-born; Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.[8]
2010
- Patrick Corvington, Haitian-born; CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service.[9]
- Kawther Elmi, Ethiopian-born; Park Ranger for the National Park Service.[9]
- Oscar Bautista Hilman, Filipino-born; United States Army.[9]
- Ledum Ndaanee, Nigerian-born; U.S. Marine Corps.[9]
- Stephan Ross, Polish-born; Founder of the New England Holocaust Memorial.[9]
- Tibor Rubin, Hungarian-born; United States Army.[9]
- Rangita de Silva de Alwis, born in Sri Lanka;[10] Director of the International Human Rights Policy at Wellesley College.[9]
- Samuel So, born in Hong Kong; professor at Stanford University.[9]
2011
- Madeleine K. Albright, Czech-born; former U.S. Secretary of State.[11]
- Joseph A. Banco, Jr., Yugoslavian-born; Associate Chief of U.S. Border Patrol at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.[11]
- Omar Cruz, Dominican-born; Federal Emergency Management Agency.[11]
- Arturo E. Howard, Colombian-born; U.S. Coast Guard.[11]
- Betty Nguyen Phillips, Vietnamese-born; U.S. Secret Service.[11]
- Alma Plancich, Croatian-born; Executive Director of the Ethnic Heritage Council.[11]
- Nawar Shora, Syrian-born; Transportation Security Administration.[11]
- Gerda Weissmann Klein, Polish-born; Founder of Citizenship Counts.[11]
- Aster Zeleke, Ethiopian-born; U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.[11]
2012
- Christopher Che; President and CEO of the Che International Group.[12]
- Anni Chung, Hong Kong-born; President and Chief Executive Officer at Self Help for the Elderly.[12]
- Ping Fu, Chinese-born; President and CEO of Geomagic.[12]
- Khaled Hosseini, Afghan-born; diplomat.[12]
- Michael Moritz, British-born; Partner at Sequoia Capital.[12]
- Maria Otero, Bolivian-born; Under Secretary Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights.[12]
- Shervin Pishevar Iranian-born; Managing Director of Menlo Ventures.[12]
- Jan Vilček, Czech-born; academic.[12]
- Vivek Wadhwa, Indian-born; Academic, researcher, writer and entrepreneur.
2013
- Ferozan Alamshahi Akbari, Afghan-born; U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.[13]
- Pearl B. Chang, Chinese-born; U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.[13]
- John A. Herrera, Cuban-born; Senior Vice President for Latino Hispanic Affairs at the Self-Help Services Corporation.[13]
- Rahul M. Jindal, Indian-born; surgeon.[13]
- Olga B. Koper, Polish-born; Market Manager for the Battelle Memorial Institute.[13]
- Ramon Melocarela, Dominican-born; U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.[13]
- Anna Mongayt, Russian-born; Co-founder and Head of Operations at Upstart.[13]
- Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa, Mexican-born; neurosurgeon.[13]
- Amarpreet S. Sawhney, Indian-born; President and CEO of Ocular Therapeutix.[13]
- Sivalingam Sivananthan, Sri Lankan-born; academic.[13]
- Tsehaye Teferra, Ethiopian-born; Founder and President of the Ethiopian Community Development Council.[13]
2014
- José Andrés, Spanish-born; chef.[14]
- John Lukacs, Hungarian-born; historian.[14]
- Alejandro Mayorkas, Cuban-born; Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.[14]
2015
- Maria Contreras-Sweet, Mexican-born; Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration.[15]
- Mercy A. Diez, United States Army.[15]
- Daniel Finn, Irish-born; Catholic priest.[15]
- Larry La, Vietnamese-born; Principal of the Meiwah Restaurant Group.[15]
- Mariano Rivera, Panamian-born; former baseball pitcher for the New York Yankees.[15]
- Thalía, Mexican-born; singer-songwriter, actress.[15]
- Alberto Vasallo, Jr., Cuban-born; Founder of El Mundo newspaper.[15]
2016
- Julian Chun-Chung Chow, Taiwanese-born; professor at the University of California, Berkeley.[16]
- Hesung Chun Koh, South Korean-born; former chair and president of the East Rock Institute.
- Florent Groberg, French-born; United States Army.[16]
- Antonia Hernández, Mexican-born; President and CEO of the California Community Foundation.[16]
- Uri D. Herscher, Israeli-born; President and CEO of the Skirball Cultural Center.[16]
- Sally Jewell, British-born; former U.S. Secretary of the Interior.[16]
- Samantha Power, Irish-born; diplomat.[16]
- Johan E. Uvin, Belgian-born; U.S. Department of Education.[16][17]
2017
- Marisol A. Chalas, U.S. Army Reserve.[18]
- Meb Keflezighi, Eritrean-born; long-distance runner.[18]
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References
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