51¾«Æ·ÊÓƵ

The honored four student, staff and faculty members with the Iris Marion Young Award for Political Engagement for outstanding efforts in social justice at the University, local, national and international level.

The following honorees were recognized during a ceremony in January:

Dighan Kelly, a junior, received the 2019 undergraduate award, has been active with 51¾«Æ·ÊÓƵ student organizations register voters and research sexual assaults on campus. Kelly has served on the local International Women’s Strike chapter’s steering committee and as president of 51¾«Æ·ÊÓƵ’s Planned Parenthood Club.

Medha Kadri is pursuing a degree in the School of Social Work and received the 2019 graduate award. Kadri has a master’s in health psychology and worked for a child-rights focused, non-governmental organization in India that primarily rescued bonded child laborers and mainstreamed them back into school education.

Crystal McCormik Ware, director of diversity and inclusion initiatives at the University Library System, received the 2019 staff award. Ware directed the Welfare to Work program in the School of Social Work, which trained lifelong welfare recipients with job skills and job placement at 51¾«Æ·ÊÓƵ and UPMC, and serves as a founding member of the Greater 51¾«Æ·ÊÓƵsburgh Higher Education Diversity Consortium.

Kari Kokka, assistant professor of mathematics education in the School of Education, received the 2019 faculty award. Kokka researches student and teacher perspectives of social justice mathematics and the longevity of STEM teachers of color in urban schools. In her teaching, Kokka incorporates social justice issues into course readings and assignments.