The Percy Hughes Award
for Scholarship, Humanity, and Social Change

Percy Hughes Award for Scholarship, Humanity, and Social Change Click here for online nomination >

ANNOUNCEMENT AND RECEPTION
The Percy Hughes Award announcement and reception will beheld during the 2012 MLK Celebration Week Convocation, Thursday, January 19, 2012.

WHO WAS PERCY HUGHES?
Percy Hughes was a philosopher, teacher, and professor who directed the Philosophy, Education, and Psychology Department at Lehigh University beginning in 1907 until 1942. Over the course of his 35-year tenure at Lehigh, Hughes used the responsibility of scholarship to pursue social change and transform the Lehigh culture. By committing himself to interdisciplinary work and humanistic principles, he furthered Lehigh’s tradition of scientific and classical education. From encouraging curriculum reform for engineers to campaigning against compulsory chapel attendance, Hughes worked tirelessly to transform Lehigh on an educational level. From women’s rights to environmentalism, Hughes devoted his life to historically progressive ideas. Hughes personified and advanced Lehigh’s motto – Homo minister et interpres naturae (man, servant and interpreter of nature) – throughout his career at Lehigh.

WHO DOES THE AWARD HONOR?
This award honors those individuals who work towards implementing big, transformative ideas in the local, national, and world communities with grace, tenacity, and devotion. For example, Percy Hughes made a continuous effort to bring co-education to Lehigh University starting in 1918. The Percy Hughes Award recognizes those who advance Lehigh University’s culture of addressing the world’s most pressing challenges with “sleeves rolled up” and an orientation towards real world issues. The award recipients are leaders who not only foster Lehigh’s historic educational mission, values, and core beliefs but also push Lehigh in new directions and heights of excellence.

AWARD CRITERIA

• Candidate(s) are current Lehigh University faculty, staff, or students.
• Candidates' academic, professional, and/or societal work reflects the spirit and vision of Percy Hughes’ ideas and values.
• Candidates actively pursue implementation of big, transformative ideas in the local, national, and/or world community.

AWARD RULES

• Nominations must be submitted by December 1, 2011 to be considered for the January awards.
• Award is given only if a qualified recipient(s) is (are) nominated.
• All nominations must be submitted online.
• The Percy Hughes committee will review all nominations. The committee must unanimously agree on the recipient(s) for the award to be given.
• Awardees will receive a monetary prize* and have their names engraved on the Percy Hughes Award plaque.
• Half of the monetary award will be donated in the recipient’s name to a cause, a charity, or a project of his/her (or their) choice that reflects values and ideas embodied in the Percy Hughes Award

ONLINE NOMINATION
Nominations will be accepted until December 1, 2011.
Click here for online nomination form >

SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
Percy Hughes Special Collections Flyer No. 19 (2001)
Percy Hughes Publications and Papers (1872-1952)

PREVIOUS RECIPIENTS

• Jessica Harris, 2009, College of Education Teaching, Learning and Technology Graduate Student
• Carolina Hernandez, 2009, Lehigh University Director of Community Service
• Michele Vella, 2010, College of Education Counseling Psychology Doctoral Student

COMMITTEE MEMBERS

• Iveta Silova (Chair), Associate Professor, Comparative and International Education, Dept. of Education and Human Services
• George DuPaul, Professor of School Psychology and Chair, Department of Education and Human Services
• Judith N. Lasker, NEH Distinguished Professor and Chair, Department of Sociology and Anthropology
• Roslyn Weiss, Clara H. Stewardson Professor of Philosophy and Chair, Department of Philosophy
• Jean M. Johnson, Team Leader/Education Librarian, Department of Library and Technology Services
• Shalena Heard, Counseling Psychology Doctoral Student, College of Education