The Portuguese bilingual newspaper Tribuna Portuguesa, headquartered in California, has chosen Fatima Cornwall, Spanish Language coordinator in the Department of World Languages, as a 2019 Person of the Year for her volunteer work with Project LAURA (Latin American Unaccompanied Minor and Refugee Assistance), a nonprofit collaboration between students at Boise State University and Concordia Law School that provides legal services.
In 2018, Project LAURA received the Global Engagement Award from the American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Languages.
Cornwall is the daughter of Portuguese immigrants and was raised in the Azores Islands. She teaches both Portuguese and Spanish classes at Boise State, as well interpreting classes for the legal and medical fields.