Five Social Justice Awards will be presented next month to changemakers who have made outstanding contributions to social justice, peace, civil rights, education, public health, and environmental justice.
This year’s ceremony, Toward Social Justice, will feature the distinguished keynote speaker Martin Luther King III, whose father delivered a lecture to an overflow crowd at Dartmouth Hall 60 years earlier. The event will take place at 7 p.m. on May 23 in Spaulding Auditorium.
“I am thrilled that Dr. King’s son, himself a tireless human rights activist, will be on hand this year to applaud the daily dedication and accomplishments of our Social Justice Award recipients,” says Shontay Delalue, senior vice president and senior diversity officer.
“The awardees are doing much-needed work for a number of important causes, ranging from support for migrant farmworkers in the Upper Valley to elevating a diversity of student voices in medicine.”
Co-sponsored by the Office of Institutional Diversity & Equity, the William Jewett Tucker Center, the Dartmouth Center for Social Impact, Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Committee, and the Geisel School of Medicine, the awards are given in several categories.
- The Emerging Leadership Award recognizes an individual who has served less than 10 years in a chosen field of work or is a recent graduate.
- The Holly Fell Sateia Award celebrates the legacy of the late Holly Fell Sateia, Guarini ’82, vice president for institutional diversity and equity, emerita, who recognized diversity as a vibrant part of Dartmouth’s mission.
- The Ongoing Commitment Award honors an individual who has dedicated between 10 and 20 years to a chosen field.
- The Student Organization Award honors a student group for its commitment to promoting social justice in our community and beyond.
2022 Honorees
María Clara de Greiff — Holly Fell Sateia Award
An award-winning journalist with a BA in humanities from Universidad de las Américas Puebla in México and a master’s degree in Latin American literature from Universidad Iberoamericana Golfo-Centro, de Greiff is the live in-advisor/professor to La Casa, the Spanish and Portuguese department’s living and learning community. She motivates students and community members to approach social justice in a variety of contexts, organizing multiple events promoting social awareness. Two years ago, she and three Dartmouth students, as well as a student from Thetford Academy, co-founded FUERZA-FARMWORKERS-FUND, an organization supporting the urgent needs, livelihoods, and well-being of migrant communities during a period of intensified isolation and vulnerability created by the COVID-19 pandemic. With a grant from the Leslie Center for the Humanities, she is writing a book, Hands that Speak: Voices from the Upper Valley Dairy Farms, documenting stories of resilience about migrant workers who labor at local dairy farms.
Ruth Morgan ’96 — Ongoing Commitment
The family medicine physician has dedicated her professional career to working with underserved communities, addressing health disparities, and educating future medical professionals. She is the medical director of primary care at the integrated courtyard clinic for Project H.E.A.L.T.H. (Homeless Engagement Addressing Limitations to Healthcare) on the Haven for Hope Campus in San Antonio, Texas. She also serves as core faculty and a site director for the Community-Based Family Medicine Residency at the Texas Institute for Graduate Medical Education and Research. Morgan has advocated on local, state, and national levels for housing-first models, graduate medical education expansion for family and community medicine programs, increasing mental health resources, and expanding medical coverage for the underinsured. After receiving her AB in sociology from Dartmouth, she earned an MS in educational leadership from Central Connecticut State University, and a post-baccalaureate certificate from Bryn Mawr College. Morgan received her medical degree with distinction in bioethics from Albany Medical College.
Anais Ovalle, Geisel ’22 — Emerging Leadership
Ovalle received her MD from Universidad Iberoamericana, where she taught safe sexual health practices to youth in local communities and schools in Santo Domingo. After completing an internal medicine residency at Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island, she spent a year as chief resident at Kent Hospital in Warwick, R.I. That same year, Ovalle completed the Brown Advocates for Social Change and Equity fellowship, focusing on issues of racism, cultural diversity, inclusion, social justice, and health equity. In 2019, she came to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center for an infectious disease fellowship and preventive medicine residency. In 2021, while working toward her master’s degree in public health, Ovalle joined the Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Action Team, establishing a student-run online forum to elevate student voices at The Dartmouth Institute. Ovalle is co-principal investigator for a Scholarship Enhancement in Academic Medicine (SEAM) grant, leading a Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Leadership Program in the Department of Medicine.
Craig Sutton — Ongoing Commitment
Sutton is an associate professor of mathematics, where he also conducts research in differential geometry. In addition to his role as an instructor and research mathematician, Sutton has devoted himself to student life and institutional service with an emphasis on creating a more diverse and inclusive campus. In 2015 he became the inaugural house professor of School House, one of six house communities designed to increase intellectual and civic engagement as well as cross-cultural exchange. Since 2016, Sutton has served as the director of the E.E. Just Program, the college’s signature effort to increase the number of students from underrepresented groups who choose to pursue degrees and careers in STEM disciplines. Prior to Dartmouth, Sutton was a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania. He completed his BA in mathematics at Yale University and earned his PhD in mathematics at the University of Michigan.
Dartmouth Black Student-Athlete Alliance — Student Group
The Dartmouth Black Student-Athlete Alliance (DBSAA) is a campus organization dedicated to fostering a sense of community, inclusion, and mentorship for Black student-athletes enrolled at Dartmouth College. DBSAA is dedicated to creating a community space to actively address the pressing issues of racial inequality on campus and in this country. Additionally, the group seeks to ensure that all Black student-athletes feel comfortable at Dartmouth and are doing their part to make an impact outside of athletics. Members are focused on creating a space for conversation, fellowship, and advancement.
The event is free and open to the public, although tickets will be required. They are available through the Hopkins Center for the Arts.
