Dr. Ashley Leinweber has been selected as one of three faculty recipients to receive this year’s Board of Governors’ Faculty Excellence in Public Affairs award.
With Dr. Leinweber’s vision and leadership, the Model UN organization has become the embodiment of the cultural competence pillar of the Public Affairs mission. The Model UN students have become more fully engaged in world affairs by sponsoring events such as the UN at 70 Celebration and the World Hunger panel. These events, and other sponsored by the group, offer the Model UN students a look at real world solutions to real world cultural, environmental, and economic development issues.
Dr. Leinweber’s commitment to Public Affairs extends beyond campus with her pro bono efforts in asylum cases from the Democratic Republic of Congo. With the asylum cases, she takes the Public Affairs mission to a much larger stage. By her own admission, not all asylum seekers deserve asylum. But for those who do, Dr. Leinweber’s research and testimony is essential in the protection of human rights; both for those seeking asylum and for all of us. Like her very public statements regarding conflict minerals, Dr. Leinweber’s work in asylum cases exemplifies the highest standards of ethical leadership.