Previous MLK Leadership Award Recipients
The MLK Leadership Awards are given annually to members of the MIT community who embody the spirit of Dr. King’s work through their outstanding commitment to service, uplifting others, and bringing the community together. Service to the community is defined in the broadest sense and includes academic, research, religious, and secular contributions in which integrity, leadership, creativity, and positive outcomes are apparent. Recipients are chosen in up to six categories: undergraduate student, graduate student, alumni, staff, faculty, and group (such as living groups and student and professional associations).
The first MLK Leadership Award was given to Yvonne Gittens in 1989. Among her many roles at MIT, she worked with the Opportunity Development Office, which laid the groundwork for MIT’s first affirmative action plan. She also worked with a prison release program, forging a pathway for formerly incarcerated individuals to get hired at MIT.
The MLK Leadership Award was not awarded again until 1995, and since then it has become an annual tradition.
You can find past MLK Leadership Award recipients below. View our list of Lifetime Achievement Awardees here.
2025
Cordelia Price
SB ‘78, SM ‘80
Pouya Alimagham
Lecturer, History
Ciarra Ortiz
PhD student in the Aerospace Physiology Lab
Sahal Ahmed ‘26
Computer Science
William Gibbs
IT/IS Manager, MIT Lincoln Laboratory
Maxine Samuel
Human Resources Coordinator, Research Laboratory of Electronics HQ
2024
Shirley Ann Jackson ‘68, PhD ‘73
President Emerita – Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Yamilée Toussaint ‘08
Founder & CEO of STEM From Dance
Hernandez Moura-Silva
Assistant Professor, Department of Biology
Alvin Harvey
Doctoral Student, Department of Aeronautics & Astronautics
Isa Liggans ’25
Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science
Tracie Jones-Barrett
Deputy Institute Community and Equity Officer (Interim), Office of the Provost
2023
Frank Ahimaz
Senior Lecturer of Finance, Sloan
Aria Kydd ’23
Electrical Engineering & Computer Science major, minoring in Music
Moana Bentin
Associate Director, Affinity Communities at MIT
Mareena Robinson-Snowden PhD ’17
Senior Engineer, National Security Analysis Department, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
2022
Nilma N. Dominique
Lecturer in Portuguese, Global Studies and Languages
Bianca Lepe
Biological Engineering
Lina Ahmed ’22
Chemical Engineering
Chiamaka Agbasi-Porter
Community Outreach Administrator, Lincoln Laboratory
Austin A. Ashe
Senior Associate Director of Belonging & Culture Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Sloan School of Management
2021
Helen Elaine Lee
Director, MIT Program in Women’s & Gender Studies
Professor of Fiction Writing, MIT Comparative Media Studies/Writing
Marisa Gaetz ’20
Mathematics
Dayme Delgado ’22
Mechanical Engineering
Natalie Petit
Assistant Director of Undergraduate Education, MIT Sloan School of Management
Associate Director of Operations, National Alliance for the Advancement of Haitian Professionals (NAAHP)
Program for Research in Mathematics, Engineering and Science (PRIMES)
MIT Department of Mathematics
2020
Sandy Alexandre
Associate Professor in Literature
Stephen Barr
Sloan School of Management
Meghan Davis
Biological Engineering
Gloria Anglón
Assistant Dean Graduate Education
Dayna Cunningham
Executive Director CoLab, Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Delta Phi Epsilon
Campus Organization
2019
Andrew Mairena
Sloan School of Management
Helena Ma ’19
Chemistry and Biology
Ramona Allen
Assistant Dean for Human Resources, MIT School of Architecture and Planning
Administrator for the MIT Black History Project
Shauna Bush-Fenty
Administrative Assistant II, MIT Office of the Provost
MIT CASE
(Class Awareness Support and Equality)
2018
Daniel Jackson SM ’88, PhD ’92
Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science
Professor of Computer Science
MacVicar Teaching Fellow
Associate Director, CSAIL
Faculty Director, MISTI-MEET
Lee Perlman PhD ’88
Founding Director, MIT Prison Initiative
Senior Lecturer, MIT Experimental Study Group
Tsehai Grell
Chemistry
Josué Lopez
Electrical Engineering & Computer Science
Joshua Woodard ’18
Mechanical Engineering
Association of Puerto Rican Students (APR)
Caribbean Initiative
2017
Kristala Jones Prather ’94
Arthur D. Little Professor of Chemical Engineering, Department Executive Officer, MIT
Michael John Beautyman
School of Engineering, MIT-EMS Director of Ambulance Operations
Tremaan Robbins
Year 4, Mechanical Engineering
Catherine Gamon
Director, Student Life for Master’s Programs, MIT Sloan
Maryanne Kirkbride
MIT Medical, Clinical Director for Campus Life
MIT Muslim Students Association
Reginald (Reggie) Van Lee ’79, SM ’80
Retired Executive Vice President, Booz Allen Hamilton
2016
Ethan Zuckerman
Director, Center for Civic Media at MIT
George Chao
PhD, Health Sciences and Technology program
Rasheed Auguste
MIT Class of 2017
La-Tarri M. Canty
Director of Multicultural Programs
Barbara Johnson
Service provider, MIT IS&T
2015
Michel DeGraff
Professor of Linguistics
Kelvin Frazier
PhD in physical chemistry
Alyssa Napier ’16
Chemistry department
Abigail M. Francis
Director of LBGT Services in Student Development and Support
Judith Stein
Organization Development Consultant/HR ERG Coordinator, MIT’s Human Resources Department
Adriane Brown SM ’91
President and Chief Operating Officer of Intellectual Ventures
2014
Sally Haslanger
Ford Professor of Philosophy in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy at MIT
Wesley L. Harris
Charles Stark Draper Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT
Atif Javed ’15
Founder, director, and alumni chair of MSA Mentorship
Michael Owu ‘86
Director of Real Estate at the MIT Investment Management Company
Lincoln Laboratory Hispanic/Latino Network
Networking resource founded by Lincoln Lab staff
2013
Bomy Lee Chung
PhD candidate in chemical engineering at MIT
Uddhav Sharma
Mathematics Department
Dr. Jocelyn O. Joseph MD, MPH
Chief of Pediatrics at MIT Medical
WMBR
MIT’s student-run college radio station
Topper Carew
Visiting Researcher, MIT Media Lab
Priscilla King Gray
Former first lady of MIT
2012
Edmund Bertschinger
Professor and Department Head, MIT Department of Physics
Julia Jaskólska ‘13
Material Science and Engineering department
Arnold R. Henderson, Jr.
Associate Dean, Counseling and Support Services, MIT
Alyce Johnson
Committee for Race and Diversity
MIT/Wellesley Upward Bound Program
Cato T. Laurencin PhD ’87
Vice President for Health Affairs, University of Connecticut
2011
Weslee S. Glenn PhD ’13
MIT graduate student
Cheryl Charles
Fiscal officer, Research Laboratory of Electronics, MIT
Debroah Hodges-Pabón
Personnel and Operations Administrator, Microsystems Technology Laboratory (MTL), MIT
Minority Introduction to Engineering and Science (MITES)
A rigorous six-week MIT residential academic enrichment program for promising high school seniors
2010
Melvin “Mel” King
Senior lecturer, emeritus, in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP)
Aisha Walcott PhD ’11
Graduate student, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Benjamin Mensah ’11
Junior at the MIT Sloan School of Management
Michael Johnson
Senior vice president, Brick City Development Corp
2009
John Essigmann
William R. (1956) & Betsy P. Leitch Professor in Residence Professor of Chemistry, Toxicology, and Biological Engineering
Christine Ortiz
Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering
Barry Reckley
Assistant Director, Minority Recruitment and Retention, MIT Sloan School of Management
Jason Forte ’09
Sloan management senior
Aisha Bobb-Semple ’09
Biological engineering major
Deborah Liverman
Assistant Director, Global Education and Career Development Center
2008
Michael S. Feld ’63, SM ’63, PhD ’67
Professor of Physics, MIT
Director, George R. Harrison Spectroscopy Laboratory
Former Chair, MIT Equal Opportunity Committee
Lorlene Hoyt PhD
Research Professor, Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP), MIT
Faculty, Tisch College of Civic Life, Tufts University
Executive Director, Talloires Network, Tufts University
Leo Osgood Jr.
Former Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education
Ali Wyne ’08
Dual MIT degrees in Political Science and Management Science
Zina Queen
Administrative Assistant, George R. Harrison Spectroscopy Laboratory, MIT
2007
Isaac Colbert
Dean for Graduate Students
La Tonya Green MCP ’00, PhD ’12
Senior Research Associate, BCT Partners
Austin and Michelle Harton
Austin: Assistant Professor of Physics, Chicago State University
Michelle: Senior Staff Engineer, Motorola
2006
Acia Adams-Heath
MIT administrative assistant, Microsystems Technology Laboratories
Charles M. Vest
MIT President, 1990–2004
2005
James L. Sherley
Associate Professor, Biological Engineering. MIT
R. Erich Caulfield SM ’01
PhD ’06, EECS, MIT
James Banks ’76
Kerry and Linda Killinger Endowed Chair, Diversity Studies Emeritus, University of Washington
Founding Director, Center for Multicultural Education, University of Washington
2004
Blanche E. Staton
Associate Dean, Office of Graduate Education, MIT
J. Phillip Thompson
Associate Professor, Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP), MIT
LaRuth C. McAfee PhD ’05
Graduate student, chemical engineering
Salvatore Molica
Director, Codman Square Health Center, Dorchester
2003
Jonathan King
Professor of Molecular Biology, MIT
Hector Hernández PhD ’08
Biological chemistry graduate student
Chiquita White ’85
Process Engineer, Proctor and Gamble
2002
Tamara S. Williams
SM ’00; EECS PhD ’06; MIT
Sergeant Cheryl Vossmer
MIT police officer
Professor Paul E. Gray ’54
MIT President, 1980-90
Randal D. Pinkett
M.B.A. and S.M., Leaders for Manufacturing Program, 1998; Ph.D. 2002; MIT
2001
Professor Wesley L. Harris
MIT faculty, 1972-85
Director, Office of Minority Education, 1975-79, MIT
Desiree Ramirez
MIT chemical engineering major
Harvey Gantt
Partner, Gantt Huberman Architects, Charlotte, NC
2000
Rafael Bras
Head, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Ticora V. Jones
Co-founder, Black Women’s Alliance of MIT
Dr. Woodrow Whitlow Jr.
Director, Aeronautics Directorate at the NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland
1999
Dr. Alexander Slocum ’82, SM, PhD
Alex and Brit d’Arbeloff Professor of Mechanical Engineering
1998
Lynda M. Jordan PhD ’85
Associate Professor of Chemistry, North Carolina A&T State University
CEO and Founder, A Place to Heal Ministries, Inc. (APTHM)
Associate Minister, Holy Temple Church, Roxbury, MA
1997
Myra Rodrigues
MIT community advisor
MIT Committee on Campus Race Relations
Dr. Sylvester James Gates Jr.
Professor of Mathematics, University of Maryland at College Park
1996
Leon Trilling
Professor emeritus, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Co-founder, Massachusetts Department of Education’s METCO Program
Matthew J. Turner
MIT class of ’96
Shirley Jackson
President, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
1995
Robert W. Mann
Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering
AISES | NSBE | SHPE
Campus organizations
Cynthia R. McIntyre
Professor of Physics, George Mason University
1989
Yvonne Gittens
Associate Director, MIT Student Financial Aid Office
Financial Aid Advisor and Consultant, Project REACH, Freedom House