The U. of I. will honor alumni, faculty members, and students at the annual International Achievement Awards banquet on April 11 at the Alice Campbell Alumni Center.
The award recipients:
Madhu Viswanathan, the Diane and Steven N. Miller Professor in Business, will receive the Sheth Distinguished Faculty Award for International Achievement.
Madhu Viswanathan, the Diane and Steven N. Miller Professor in Business at the U. of I., will receive the Sheth Distinguished Faculty Award for International Achievement. The award is presented to a faculty member who demonstrates exemplary accomplishments in teaching, research and public service in the international arena.
Viswanathan is being honored for his pioneering subsistence marketplace research in countries on several continents. The award recognizes his educational innovations in incorporating issues such as poverty and environmental sustainability into the curriculum and disseminating educational materials around the world. The award also recognizes his social initiative on marketplace literacy and empowerment through micro-level entrepreneurship, which has had measureable impact in elevating the standard of living for economically marginalized people in developing nations.
S. Ismat Shah, a professor in the departments of materials science and engineering and of physics and astronomy at the University of Delaware, will receive the Madhuri and Jagdish Sheth International Alumni Award for Exceptional Achievement. A native of Pakistan, Shah earned his Ph.D. in material science and engineering at Illinois in 1986. He will give the annual International Alumni Lecture at the Alice Campbell Alumni Center at 9 a.m. on April 11.
Established in 2000, the award is presented each year to one of the university’s distinguished international alumni who has helped to better their own nation or the world through their contributions to government, humanity, science, art or human welfare.
Shah is being honored for his humanitarian efforts in helping to raise resources for Pakistani and Afghan refugees displaced by natural disaster and war; for his promotion of higher education in Pakistan; and advancing the use of alternative energy sources in developing nations. The award also honors his promotion of dialogue between the Muslim community and other religious and social groups in Delaware, particularly after 9/11.
Abram J. Bicksler, the director of Sustainability Research for the International Sustainable Development Studies Institute in Chiang Mai, Thailand, will receive the Charles C. Stewart International Young Humanitarian Award. Bicksler earned his M.S. and a Ph.D. in natural resources and environmental sciences at Illinois and is being honored for his work on sustainable tropical agriculture in Thailand and Cambodia. He also works with the ECHO Asia Impact Center, which provides technical support for individuals and organizations working in agriculture and community development throughout Asia.
Rachel Lauren Storm, a Ph.D. student in global educational policy studies at the U. of I., will receive the Illinois International Graduate Achievement Award. The award recognizes her international volunteer work and activism, which focuses on anti-violence and justice among indigenous communities in Ecuador. She is the founder of the nonprofit organization Four Walls and a Roof, which supports survivors of domestic violence.
Tara R. McGovern, a U. of I. senior in socio-cultural and linguistic anthropology, will receive the Illinois International Undergraduate Achievement Award. The award honors McGovern’s research and volunteer activities in Ecuador, where she helped found a free English school for adolescents and children in her host community.
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