The Martin Luther King Jr. Social Justice Awards recognize Dartmouth community members’ commitment to education, community building, public health, civil rights, and economic, environmental, and social justice worldwide.
Holly Fell Sateia Award
Recognizing faculty and staff who demonstrate an enduring interest in and ability to build and enhance diversity through sustained effort, enriching the lives of surrounding community members. This enrichment helps foster a safe environment where a community can learn, collaborate, and innovate.
Bala Chaudhary
Associate Professor of Environmental Studies
Chaudhary earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Chicago and her master’s and PhD from Northern Arizona University. Before joining Dartmouth, she held faculty appointments at DePaul University and Loyola University Chicago. Her research focuses on fungal ecology and the long-distance dispersal of microbes. She is a recipient of the National Science Foundation CAREER award and has advised on continent-scale biology for the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. She is an advocate for antiracism in science and the founder of WOCinEEB, an international organization for racial and gender minorities in ecology and evolutionary biology.
Entire list of 2026 Social Justice Award Recipients available here.