Purdue names 2022 Dreamer Award recipients

The Office of the Vice President for Ethics and Compliance is announcing the recipients of the 2022 Dreamer Award. The Dreamer Award has been presented annually since 2004 to individuals or organizations within the Purdue community whose contributions embody the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision of service to others and further the University’s commitment to diversity.

The recipients are:

• Deepa Majumdar, professor of philosophy, Department of History, Philosophy, Politics and Economics, College of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences, Purdue Northwest.
• Karen Bishop Morris, associate professor of English, Department of English and World Languages, College of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences, Purdue Northwest.
• Peyton Stovall, assistant athletics director - student athlete development, Purdue Intercollegiate Athletics, Purdue West Lafayette.

Majumdar and Morris are being recognized for their contributions to the creation of the PNW Series on Race, Racism, and Anti-Racism, which was developed in the summer of 2020 and launched the following fall semester. This series of 4-5 presentations each semester confronts racial injustice through the lenses of protest, contemporary politics, criminal justice, health care disparities, education and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). Talks in the series have highlighted faculty from all of the Purdue campuses and have had more than 1,200 registrants. Five such interactive lectures are scheduled for the spring 2022 semester. The entire series has been archived on the PNW College of Humanities, Education, and Social Sciences (CHESS) YouTube channel, embedded in the curriculum of many humanities courses, and used as a tool for campus outreach.

Stovall is being recognized for his contributions to Purdue Intercollegiate Athletics and the Big Ten in empowering the voices of student-athletes and supporting registration and voting. In 2020, Stovall co-led the organization of a Black Identified Student-Athlete forum and a Black Identified Student-Athlete and Allies forum. He co-led and hosted staff and coaches diversity training sessions in June 2020 with well over 100 attendees. He also supported private team meetings and the development of a Pledge Against Racism created by the Student Athlete Advisory Committee. Stovall serves on the Big Ten Voter Registration Committee and the Big Ten Equity Coalition.