2009 IUPUI Outstanding Women Leaders Honored

In honor of the annual Women’s History Month celebration, the IUPUI Office for Women and Campus & Community Life recently presented Outstanding Women Leadership Awards to faculty, staff and students nominated by their colleagues.

The theme of Women’s History Month this year was “Women Taking the Lead to Save Our Planet.”  The awards event featured a keynote address by Professor Lenore Tedesco, director of the Center for Earth and Environmental Science at IUPUI. Dr. Tedesco spoke about her efforts and that of the center to protect the Central Indiana water supply and to restore wetlands to our water ecosystem.

Chancellor Bantz opened the event with remarks about the contributions of women scientists at IUPUI to the community, highlighting the work of Professor Tedesco and her colleagues. He also spoke about the need to encourage young women to enter careers in science. Vice Chancellor Karen Whitney followed with a discussion of how women have helped “saved our world of IUPUI” and told the stories of early women faculty and staff whose efforts and vision helped develop the campus.

This year, the Office for Women introduced a new award, “IUPUI Inspirational Woman” to acknowledge qualities of dedication, service, and generosity beyond the call of duty in the lives of several of the nominees. Two awards were made: one to Judith McWhirter, a supervisor in the student account services division of the bursar’s office and the other to Professor Nancy Chism in the IU School of Education at IUPUI.

This year’s faculty and staff winners were: Faculty "veteran" award - Associate Professor Jane R. Williams, Department of Psychology, Purdue School of Science, IUPUI; Faculty "newcomer" award – Monica Stone, Lecturer, Department of Visual Communications, Herron School of Art and Design; Staff "veteran" award – Benita Book, Laboratory Supervisor, Transplant Immunology Laboratory, Department of Surgery, Indiana University School of Medicine; Staff "newcomer" award – Andrea Brian, Academic Advisor, Department of Mathematical Sciences, Purdue School of Science, IUPUI; and Part-time Faculty/Staff award – Assistant Clinical Professor Melinda Meadows, Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Indiana University School of Dentistry.

The “veteran” award is for faculty or staff members who have been at IUPUI/ IUPUC over five years and the “newcomer” designation is for those who have been here five or less.

Six women were named Outstanding Woman Student leaders by Campus and Community Life. Undergraduate award winners were Loan Hoang, Radiography, IU School of Medicine; Ashley Butler, IU School of Nursing; and Cora Daniel, IU School of Nursing. Graduate student award winners were: Tiffany Kyser, IU School of Liberal Arts, IUPUI; Tabitha Hardy, IU School of Medicine; and Arthy Saravanan, IU School of Medicine.