College senior Monique Dorsainvil received the 2009 Lucius Lamar McMullan Award for her extraordinary promise of becoming a future leader, University officials announced Wednesday.

The McMullan Award recognizes a graduating senior of “uncommon stature” with significant academic and extracurricular accomplishments, Senior Associate Dean Joanne Brzinski wrote in an e-mail to the Wheel. The winner of the award also receives $20,000.

“When I found out I won the Lucius Lamar McMullan Award I was extremely grateful and humbled all in the same breath,” Dorsainvil wrote in an e-mail to the Wheel. “I want to accept this award in the name of all scholar-activists at Emory University who work passionately to produce innovative scholarship and cultivate transformative social change.”

A leader in the Transforming Community Project (TCP), Dorsainvil has worked as a steering committee member, facilitator and community dialogue member in order to help spark discussion about the history of race at Emory.

Dorsainvil, who is majoring in women’s studies and minoring in global health, culture and society, is involved with the Center for Women as an executive board member and has served as a student representative on the President’s Commission on the Status of Women.

Dorsainvil is co-president of the Feminists in Action organization, which she co-founded.

She wrote she is committed to combatting gender inequality on campus.
Professor in the Institute of Liberal Arts (ILA) Rudolph Byrd, Assistant Professor in the ILA Kimberly Wallace-Sanders, Assistant Professor in the ILA Regine Jackson, Senior Vice President and Dean of Campus Life John Ford, College senior Scot Seitz, Instructor in the ILA Ryan Hays, Senior Sociology Lecturer Sam Cherribi, College senior Nicolai Lundy, Director of the Center for Women Dona Yarbrough and Senior Vice Provost for Community and Diversity Ozzie Harris nominated Dorsainvil for this award. Former Student Government Association President Maria Town helped coordinate the nominations.

Her nominators mentioned Dorsainvil’s internships in Thailand and as a legislative aide to Georgia State Representative Stacey Abrams.

Dorsainvil wrote she went to Thailand because she was interested in learning about the transgender Kathoey culture. She wrote she wanted to expose herself to a culture without a binary view of gender.

An avid photographer, Dorsainvil wrote she fell in love with photography at the
United World College in Montezuma, New Mexico, during her junior year of high school.

“I love capturing people, places, and moments,” Dorsainvil said. “I think my passion for photography has a lot to do with memory and wanting to hold on to my experiences.”

Dorsainvil has also been recognized for her academic achievements. She was awarded the Goodrich C. White Scholarship and became part of the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship program in 2007.

According to Hays, who taught Dorsainvil’s “Politics of Identity” course when she was a freshman, Dorsainvil “represents the rare student who is driven less by the grade and more by the genuine desire to grow with each assignment.”
Dorsainvil’s friend since freshman year, Town said Dorsainvil is extremely dedicated to all causes she is passionate about.

“Monique is someone I look up to,” Town said. “I’ve always admired her.”
Lundy explained Dorsainvil is not afraid to encourage others to become involved in the activities she is interested in.

He said he has attended several campus events, such as the Vagina Monologues, that he would not have gone to without Dorsainvil’s persuasion.

“Monique represents the kind of compassionate and understanding world citizen that will be increasingly important in our society,” Lundy said. “She is someone who is welcoming of more identities, personalities and backgrounds than anyone I know.”

Dorsainvil said she is planning to donate some of the money she received for the award to the Tiana Angelique Notice Foundation, which was started two months ago by Sasha Smith, assistant director for programs at the Center for Women, after Smith’s younger sister was brutally murdered this past Valentine’s Day.

The foundation aims to prevent domestic violence and intimate partner violence by educating people on the need for self-worth, self-empowerment and an understanding of the cycle of violence.

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