Stewart receives on-campus leadership award

Alex Johnson, Staff Reporter

Barbara Stewart, a driving force on the UW-La Crosse campus, received the Martin Luther King Jr. Leadership award.
The award has been given to a UW-L faculty member every year since 2009. Now, Barbara Stewart adds her name to a list of UW-L’s most innovative members who strive for Luther’s own goal of equality and diversity.
Joining the UW-L family in 1999, Stewart began as the Director of Multicultural Student Services and Center (OMSSC.) Here, she developed and assisted in a multitude of programs and services for multicultural students, including the serving as the Interim Director for Affirmative Action, Student Affairs Multicultural Student Scholarship Committee and Campus Climate Council.
One of Stewart’s larger efforts, the Eagle Mentoring Program, helps underprivileged and underrepresented second-year students feel more in tune with the community and college experience.
Currently, Stewart provides insight and supervision to all of the offices under the Campus Climate and Diversity. In addition to offering her service to offices such as Upward Bound and Disability Resources, Stewart takes her job in stride.
Described by her colleagues as “the forefront of the fight for social justice, and, along the way [becoming] the most highly respected, trusted and admired advocates on campus,” Stewart continues to them every day.
Despite the busy and sometimes hectic schedule, Stewart finds time to coach and assist her students whenever they may need aid. Stewart dedicates her life to helping those around her.
Stewart pulls herself in another direction: the city of La Crosse. Involved with the La Crosse Area NAACP for four years, the Young Women’s Christian Association Board of Directors, Onalaska School District Village Partnership, Eagle Bluff Elementary School and the Hmong Mutual Assistance Association until 2012, Stewart works to improve both the campus and city of La Crosse.