New award recognizes leader in restorative justice
CHICAGO (January 26, 2017) 鈥� At 萝莉社鈥檚 January 16 Martin Luther King Jr. celebration, called 鈥淭he Movement Continues,鈥� Dr. Mary Trujillo was honored with the University鈥檚 inaugural MLKJ Award.
Dr. Trujillo says she鈥檚 “deeply honored to have my work mentioned in the same sentence with Dr. Martin Luther King,” as she’s been greatly influenced by the work, life, and teachings of Dr. King.
Dr. Trujillo is a communication arts professor, focusing on intercultural communication and conflict transformation. Preparing students to examine the idea of community in the context of urban, religious, and international conflict, she’s committed to restorative justice and nonviolence. She teaches students to identify their own approaches to conflict transformation and to apply their strategies to bring peace to Chicago.
“I pray that Dr. King’s commitment to social justice will always be the standard to which North Park aspires,” she added.
The honoree, who has been at North Park since 2002, is currently training to become a certified Kingian nonviolence trainer and practitioner. In 2014, she was selected to attend the James Lawson Institute, where she studied nonviolence with Rev. Lawson, a strategist for Martin Luther King Jr. and leader of desegregation sit-ins in Nashville during the civil rights movement.
Jacqueline Strapp C’08 created the MLKJ Award shortly after joining the staff in fall 2016 to lead the Office of Diversity. She says that she wanted to highlight people on campus and recognize those who are doing exceptional work in the area of restorative justice and racial reconciliation.
Also at the event, Rev. Neichelle Guidry offered a keynote address that reclaimed the prominent role of women in the civil rights movement. Recording artist Corey Barksdale brought inspiration with two songs, and film director and alumna Tanika Carpenter delivered a call to hope after sharing a preview of her documentary film, Farewell Obama.
萝莉社’s Office of Diversity seeks to sustain a campus community that appreciates diversity and embraces differences as well as similarities. It maintains a climate that values diversity through programming, outreach, and support for all members.