Martha Smith Award for Women’s, Gender, and Sexualities Studies

This award is given in honor of Martha Smith, one of the founding mothers of the women’s and gender studies program at Elon University, to recognize the achievements – both academic and activist in nature – of a graduating senior Women’s, Gender, and Sexualities Studies minor.

Presented by Kirstin Ringelberg, Professor of Art History

Transcript of Commendations

Kirstin Ringelberg, Professor of Art History

It is my honor to announce Jay Tiemann as the recipient of the 2021 Martha Smith award for Women’s, Gender, and Sexualities Studies. As a feminist majoring in Human Service Studies and minoring in Poverty and Social Justice as well as WGSS, Jay has embodied the commitments Dr. Smith had to changing campus and our world for the better by increasing knowledge and awareness of gender’s diversity within a feminist framework both scholarly and interpersonal. In addition to his stellar successes within those obviously relevant degree programs, Jay has served on the WGSS board and in the Gender and LGBTQIA Center. Jay is a brilliant academic and original thinker who could luxuriate solely in the theoretical realm, but his work is always pointed toward social justice problem solving. Jay’s attempts to generate positive public action on changing the status, compensation, collective bargaining status, and public regard of our adjunct faculty and the state’s nurse practitioners are just two examples of the way he turns theory to practice and strives for the improvement of others’ lives. Jay will continue that work after graduation, likely earning an Masters in Social Work down the road but first interning with the victim services coordinator on a North Carolina state inquiry commission, working to develop stronger support networks for exonerees of the criminal justice system as well as helping to develop a restorative justice dialogue process. It is unsurprising that Jay has been a campus leader in activism, attempting to effect campus change in issues relevant to gender, sexuality, and feminism but also equity issues regarding the global pandemic’s impact on students, staff, and faculty. In my experience, Jay combines theory with praxis beautifully, always working to improve and focused on countering his own privileges by putting skin in the game. He knows when to make calls or write letters, and when to show up with the placards and sharpies and get in the streets. That balance of scholarly excellence and social activism makes me confident Jay will make Martha Smith, and all of us, proud as he moves through the world. Congratulations, Jay!