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The Iris Marion Young Award: Call for Nominations
Do you know someone who is a leader in the struggle to achieve social justice? If so, we want to hear from you. The Gender, Sexuality, & Women’s Studies Program, with contributions from the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs and others across the University community, has created the Iris Marion Young Award for Political Engagement to honor those who work to promote justice in the University, at the local or national level, or across the globe. Like the philosopher and social theorist Iris Young, in whose memory the award is created, the Young Award recognizes that social activism takes many forms. Justice can be pursued in a variety of ways and places—in the classroom and workplace, in organizations, through specific projects, in academic scholarship, in politics and volunteer work. The venue doesn’t matter. The effort and quality of the contribution does. The Gender, Sexuality, & Women’s Studies Program invites nominations of any members of the Pitt community staff or faculty—who work to promote social justice and democracy. The Program invites undergraduates and graduates to be nominated for the Iris Marion Young Undergraduate and Graduate Awards. Because Young’s vision holds gender equity to be an integral component of social justice, the Gender, Sexuality, & Women’s Studies Program especially welcomes nominations of individuals whose work explicitly engages issues of gender and sexual orientation.
To nominate a candidate for the Iris Marion Young Award, send an email to gsws@pitt.edu. Include three things: your name and contact information, the nominee’s name and contactinformation, and a couple of sentences explaining why you are nominating that person. Nominations may also be mailed to the Gender, Sexuality, & Women’s Studies Program. Our address through the summer is 2203 Posvar Hall, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260. (We will be moving to the Cathedral of Learning at the end of summer 2014 and we will send that address when it is confirmed.) You and your nominee will be contacted to follow up on your nomination.
For more information about the award, click here or contact the Program at (412) 624-7232.
Nominations must be received by Monday, Sept. 15, 2014 at 5:00 p.m.
Nominees’ supporting materials will be due Friday, Oct. 17, 2014.
Hold the Date: The Young Awards will be presented at a ceremony Thursday, Nov. 6, 4:00 - 6:30 at The Twentieth Century Club. A panel discussion on Race and Education in Pittsburgh will kick off the event.
Iris Marion Young, a philosopher and social and political theorist of international renown, was a faculty member in Pitt’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs during the 1990s. She was a vital member of the Women’s Studies Program and the University community, and she was an activist for gender equity, labor rights, and other forms of social justice. As a scholar, a teacher, and a citizen, she was inspirational.
