The University of Chicago’s Annual Diversity Awards recognize, honor, and celebrate the significant contributions of underrepresented students who have taken leadership roles or made exceptional contributions to the university's diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.

The Division of the Humanities congratulates this year’s 17 awardees!

Under the “Furthering Diversity" category, which recognizes individuals who have demonstrated exceptional commitment to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion within their division or school at UChicago, two Humanities graduate students were recognized, Shefali Mehta and Susanna Sun.

Shefali Mehta

Mehta is a master’s student in the Humanities Program at UChicago, specializing in South Asian studies.

This year, she founded and co-hosted “South Asian Film Night” to broaden her understanding of South Asian cultures beyond her North Indian (Delhi) background and Bollywood films. Her goal was to create a space that explores the diverse cultures within South Asia. Mehta invited the community to submit their favorite films, resulting in regionally and linguistically unique screenings. She found it incredibly rewarding to share this experience with the UChicago community. In addition to her involvement in this event, Mehta completed her thesis, focusing on contemporary postcolonial Indian literature, with themes including anger, masculinity, and revenge.

Susanna Sun

Sun is a rising third-year PhD student in the joint program between East Asian Languages and Civilizations (EALC) and the Theater and Performance Studies Committee (TAPS). She researches Chinese opera across media forms and temporal divisions. This year, she organized a conference that advocated for the all-female theater of Chinese opera—Yue opera. Alongside fostering cultural diversity, this event also reflected upon women's narratives, actresses' voices, and gender performativity. This event ground-breakingly marked the first time that the all-female Chinese opera was commemorated in a concentrated, multimedia manner that connected academic and practitioner perspectives internationally. It attracted an audience of diverse backgrounds, including faculty members and students from various departments and divisions at UChicago, Vice Consuls from the Chicago-China consulate, the Chicago Chinese community, and the local community. This year, Sun also served as the social chair for the EALC Department.

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To see the full list of 2024 award winners, click here. >> or visit the Diversity Advisory Board's web page. >>