Arts and Sciences Student, Alumna Win Iris M. Young Awards
04/09/09
Aaron Arnold and Melissa Swauger, two activists educated at the University of Pittsburgh, will be awarded Iris M. Young Awards for Political Engagement, sponsored by the Women’s Studies Program and the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA).
Aaron Arnold, who will receive a newly designated undergraduate award, graduates this month from the University of Pittsburgh with a BA in sociology, a minor in Africana Studies, and a Certificate in the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality. Named in 2005 as a Time-Warner/Point Foundation Scholar, he recently received the Robert W. Avery Award for excellence in undergraduate studies in sociology and in 2008 was inducted into the Omicron Delta Kappa National Leadership honors society. As a Brackenridge fellow in the Honors College, Arnold carried out a research study on HIV/AIDS educational materials in Lagos, Nigeria. He has interned with Heartland Alliance, a refugee health education program. At the University, Arnold has been a leader of Rainbow Alliance, a GLBTQA student support organization, and the Campus Women’s Organization’s production of The Vagina Monologues.
Currently an assistant professor of sociology at Carlow University, Melissa Swauger earned a PhD in sociology and a master’s Certificate in Women’s Studies from the University of Pittsburgh in 2008, and an MA from Duquesne’s Graduate Center for Social and Public Policy. She has received grants from the Jewish Women’s Foundation of Greater Pittsburgh and Gwen’s Girls for research and curriculum development about career possibilities for at-risk girls. She has pursued her commitments to empowering working-class women and girls in both academic and public arenas. Active in numerous community organizations, including the Girls Coalition of Southwestern PA, Women and Girls Foundation, and the Carnegie’s Girls, Math and Science Partnership, she has also volunteered with Big Brothers Big Sisters programs and organizations for battered women and abused children.
The Young Award for Political Engagement honors Iris Marion Young, a philosopher and social theorist of international renown. Young was a professor in GSPIA during the 1990s before taking a position as a political science professor at the University of Chicago in 2000. She died in 2006 of cancer. At Pitt, Young was a galvanizing presence, active in the Women’s Studies Program as well as within GSPIA. During her time in Pittsburgh, Young volunteered and organized on behalf of peace and social justice, fair labor practices, adult literacy, and children’s rights, among other causes, and she worked to combat hate groups and poverty. GSPIA and the Women’s Studies Program inaugurated the award in 2008 to honor Young’s memory and recognize a member of the Pitt community whose actions have had political impact within the University or beyond. This year, GSPIA established the Iris M. Young Lecture in Civic Engagement to mark the event.
Awards Will Be Presented with the Inaugural Iris M. Young Lecture in Civic Engagement April 16
Swauger and Arnold were selected from a field of nominees that included faculty, students, and recent alumni from several Pitt schools and colleges. They will be honored at a ceremony April 16, 2009, which will also feature the inaugural Iris M. Young Lecture in Civic Engagement, sponsored by the Innovation Clinic and GSPIA. This year’s lecture, “Theorizing Feminist Global Justice: A Tribute to Iris Marion Young,” will be delivered by Professor Anne Sisson Runyan of the University of Cincinnati's Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.
Runyan holds a PhD in international relations from American University and is a specialist in feminist world politics. Her books include Global Gender Issues (1993, 1999, and a completely new edition entitled Global Gender Issues in the New Millennium forthcoming July 2009) and Gender and Global Restructuring: Sightings, Sites and Resistances (2000, completely new second edition forthcoming January 2010). She was the recipient of the 2007 Distinguished Feminist International Relations Scholar Award given by the Feminist Theory and Gender Studies section of the International Studies Association (ISA) and the 2006 Mentor Award given by the Society of Women in International Political Economy. She serves on several editorial boards, including for the International Feminist Journal of Politics and is an Associate Editor for the ISA Feminist Theory and Gender Studies compendium project. Her current research focus is on transnational feminist theory.
The lecture will be at 3 p.m. in the Pittsburgh Athletic Association, followed by the awards ceremony at 4 p.m. and a reception to follow, all at the PAA. If you plan to attend, please RSVP no later than Monday, April 13, to wstudies@pitt.edu.