May 6, 2010
Two students win Jen Caldwell Award named for UW graduate
Jen Caldwell worked her way through the UW, holding multiple jobs to cover rent, food and tuition. She wanted a degree that would inform her work in social justice, particularly women’s rights and fair trade.
Caldwell’s life was cut short by a traffic accident last year in South Africa, only two years after graduating, but an award in her name from the UW Center for Human Rights will help carry on her work.
The first Jen Caldwell Award will be given to UW students Lydia Ansari and Mariah Ortiz at a celebration of the center’s first anniversary from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Friday, May 7 in Kane Hall
“I’m really honored to carry on Jen Caldwell’s legacy,” said Ortiz, who will use her $1,000 for a summer abroad program in Africa led by Joel Ngugi, a native of Kenya who teaches in the UW School of Law. Ortiz will intern with the Kenya Human Rights Commission, a group whose work includes HIV/AIDS education and advocating for vulnerable populations, especially girls and women who live in slums. Ortiz, 30, is finishing a master’s degree in policy studies and a certificate in international development.
Ansari, a 21-year-old Husky Promise student majoring in political science honors as well as Law, Societies and Justice, will use her $1,000 award for the same summer abroad program. As a volunteer for the Refugee Council of Kenya, Ansari will help gather information about gender-based violence in refugee camps. Overcrowded because of civil unrest and short of resources such as clean water and good lighting, the camps are often dangerous for women. Ansari wants to join human rights workers who are pressing government officials for better conditions.
Caldwell received an undergraduate degree in Law, Societies and Justice but also one is political economy, both with honors. She received LS&J’s Karin Stromberg Award, given to a student who excels both academically and in work for social justice.
At the time of her death, Caldwell was a volunteer for Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa, which advocates for fair wages, fair purchasing and respect for human rights in that country’s tourism industry.
Earlier, Caldwell had been part of a student group that Angelina Godoy took to Guatemala to learn about human rights challenges. Back in the U.S., Caldwell worked on a Guatemala scholarship program and helped push the University to use 100 percent fair-trade coffee.
“Jen was everything that we aspire for our students to be,” said Godoy, an associate professor who holds the Helen H. Jackson Chair in Human Rights at the Jackson School. “She was bright, compassionate, committed to social justice and fiercely dedicated to the things she believed in.”
After graduation, Caldwell held a Bonderman Fellowship, which provides a student $20,000 for at least eight months of independent travel to at least six countries. Caldwell eventually elected to stay in South Africa, where she became a leader in new efforts to foster responsible tourism.
Godoy said there have been discussions about a fundraising campaign that would endow the Caldwell award, thus perpetuating it.
