Elizabeth Brewer

Excerpt from Univiersity Communications

You may have heard of the bystander effect, the phenomenon that explains how individuals opt to do nothing even in the face of another person suffering.

At the UA, the Difference of One Award was established to honor those UA students, faculty and staff who decide to stand up and make difference in another person's life, particularly when someone is dealing with a challenging situation.

Presented by the University's SafeCats program in the Dean of Students Office, Elizabeth Brewer, a senior at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, is one of two individuals being honored this year.

Alan Beaudrie, who nominated Brewer for her work with the now named Yoga for Every Body, a UA-student led organization that offers yoga that is inclusive of individuals with disabilities, emphasized her unique qualities and characteristics and the importance of the organization she helped to establish at the UA. 

"I have infrequently met someone who embodies caring as much as Elizabeth does. You can tell after only one conversation with her that she truly deeply cares about others, and her life revolves around helping others to the best of her ability," wrote Beaudrie, assistant director of undergraduate advising for the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health.

UA alumnus Jovan Ruvalcaba, who also wrote on Brewer's behalf, noted that she is persistently "stepping up" to aid in the development and evolution of the organization, adding that, no matter the location, she "is bringing students together who might not interact otherwise."

Elizabeth will graduate with a BS in Public Health in May.