The Martin Dupuis Leadership Award

The Martin Dupuis Leadership Award Fund was estlished July 2024 by the Mukti Fund, a Michigan not-for-profit corporation of Key West, Florida in honor of Professor Martin Dupuis of Western Illinois University. The Mukti Fund was established in 1983 in Traverse City, Michigan by Michael Dively and Martin Dupuis Award, a student of Mr. Dively at Albion College. The Mukti name comes from Sanskrit and means loberation. In 2004, the Trustees of the Mukti Fund voted to establish the Martin Dupuis Award in recognition of Professor Dupuis’ two decades of service as a member of the Board of Trustees and to acknowledge the value Western Illinois University has played in his professional life.

Professor Dupuis was born in Birmingham, Michigan and graduated from Albion College in 1983. He secured his JD from the American University in 1987. Following a brief career in real estate in Florida, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue his Ph.D. in political science at the University of Southern California. After receiving his Ph.D. degree in 1997, he accepted a position as assistant professor of political science at Western Illinois University.

CRITERIA:
The Dupuis Leadership Award in Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Communities will recognize a LGBT student or ally who has provided leadership in LGBT groups and/or concerning LGBT issues at WIU. Preference will be given to a junior returning to Western Illinois University for his/her senior year.