The Iris Marion Young Awards for Political Engagement — honoring those who work to promote justice in the University, at the local or national level, or across the globe — are presented annually by the Gender, Sexuality, & Women’s Studies Program in the Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences and the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs.
The awards honor the memory of philosopher and social theorist Iris Young — a professor in GSPIA and a member of the Women's Studies Program Steering Committee during the 1990s before taking a position as professor of political science at the University of Chicago in 2000. She died in 2006 of cancer.
Nominations are open to staff, faculty, graduate students and undergraduate students who are currently affiliated with Pitt or were affiliated in the previous year.
This year’s winners were honored at a ceremony on Nov. 30.
The 2022-23 winners:
Faculty: Abagael West, a teaching assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences in the Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences. West plays an active role in their departmental Committee on Diversity, Inclusion and Equity and strives to address inclusivity in a discipline that, as they put it, “is only just emerging from a long period of (incorrectly) considering itself identity-agnostic.” In their Vertebrate Morphology course, they address the colonialist history of natural history. In this course and others, West serves as a mentor for trans and non-binary students. They have also contributed to the inclusion of diverse voices in their field by co-authoring a children’s book, “She Found Fossils,” which consists of illustrated biographies of currently active and historical female-identifying paleontologists. West has been active in the USW Union of Pitt Faculty campaign — first, as a member of the Organizing Committee and currently as a member of the Communication and Action Team, Council of Representatives, and the Bargaining Committee.
Staff member: Molly Ritter, a social justice activist working as project coordinator for The Family Check-Up Implementation Team in the Pitt Parents and Children Lab. A recipient of the Charlotte Newcombe Scholarship, Ritter is a recent summa cum laude graduate of Chatham University where she received a B.A. in women and gender studies, a minor in public relations, and a certificate in women’s leadership. She is the leader of the Parents and Children Lab’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee where she has successfully implemented progressive educational reform in hiring practices. She has conducted research on gender socialization and campus sexual assault prevention, with a focus on the effects of interventions with the IDEALS Lab (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Activism for Liberation and Social Change). In addition to her work with labor rights and supporting families, Ritter has created a four-week intervention project centered on combating negative body image and eradicating self-objection.
Graduate student: Paula Orozco-Espinel, a feminist activist pursuing a Ph.D. in History, in the Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences. Orozco-Espinel is working on her dissertation “From Family Planning to Reproductive Rights: Women in the History of Birth Control in Colombia, 1964-1993.” Her advocacy and research work demonstrate her belief that feminist political work can and should be done everywhere, including the classroom, the office, museums, and the streets. Since 2019, she has been the ad honorem director of Género y Seguridad (Gender and Safety), a Colombian human rights organization focused on fighting sexual violence in universities. She has also volunteered in other Colombian organizations, developing and leading educational programs aimed at preventing sexual violence and early pregnancy among vulnerable girls. At Pitt, working with Digital Scholarship Services at University Library System to increase the visibility of the materials Pitt holds on the National Organization for Women, Orozco-Espinel created a short video on “Sexism: the boardgame,” and co-curated the hybrid exhibit “A Century of Mobilizing for Reproductive Care” (2021), in alliance with Archives and Special Collections.
Undergraduate student: Jolie Haertter, majoring in gender, sexuality, & women’s studies, and psychology in the Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences with a minor in law, criminal justice, and society. As a volunteer in the Infant Communication Lab (ICL) at Pitt, Haertter has assisted with research on the impact of delayed motor development on other factors that can contribute to early experiences of symptoms related to autism spectrum disorder. She was awarded a Brackenridge Fellowship to expand on their research in the ICL by investigating parental influence on infants’ gendered object engagement during naturalistic-free play sessions. At Pitt, she has served as a Browne Leaders Fellow working on community engagement projects in Millvale, published in the Pitt Undergraduate Review on how children with neurodivergent backgrounds perceive gender stereotypes, and serves as the mental health liaison for Chronic Connections a new organization focused on the experiences of students with chronic health conditions. Off campus, she volunteers with the Goodwill Adult GED program. She aspires to become a researcher investigating gender and neurodivergence in childhood and how these factors influence systemic marginalization.
Undergraduate student: Neha Devineni, a third-year honors undergraduate student double majoring in biology and gender, sexuality, and women’s studies in the Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences, while pursuing a certificate in global health. In addition to her stellar academic achievements, Devineni is an accomplished social activist with a commitment to work in the field of reproductive health to further the strong connection between health and sustainability. She leads the Students for Sustainability, a multidisciplinary environmental club focused on education and volunteering in the surrounding Pittsburgh neighborhoods in partnership with local nonprofit organizations. She serves as the business manager for Food Recovery Heroes, which donates unused food (almost 4,000 pounds of food a semester) from the dining hall at Pitt and delivers it to those who are food insecure. She also volunteers at Allegheny Reproductive and Planned Parenthood.