Helen Hudson, founder of Mothers Against Gun Violence, to receive 2009 Daniel and Mary Lou Rubenstein Social Justice Award April 7

Helen Hudson, founder of Mothers Against Gun Violence, to receive 2009 Daniel and Mary Lou Rubenstein Social Justice Award April 7March 30, 2009Michele Barrettmibarret@syr.edu

“We can’t stay back and be silent. Violence is not condoned,” were the words of Helen Hudson, founding member of Mother’s Against Gun Violence in Syracuse, earlier this year at a vigil for a slain man gunned down in his own driveway. Hudson’s stepson was killed in 2005. To recognize her tireless work to make local neighborhoods safer, Hudson will be honored by the Syracuse University College of Human Ecology’s School of Social Work with the 2009 Daniel and Mary Lou Rubenstein Social Justice Award.

Now in its 30th year, this annual award recognizes a person who reflects the values of social justice in his or her professional and personal life. The award is given in honor of the late professor Daniel Rubenstein, a former faculty member in the School of Social Work and his late wife, Mary Lou, a former school social worker.

The award will be presented at a ceremony on Tuesday, April 7, at 7 p.m. in Maxwell Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public, with paid parking available at the Irving Garage. The event will feature a keynote address by James DeWolf Perry, who was featured in “Traces of the Trade,” a film that illustrates one of the largest slave-trading families in U.S. history. The film follows family members on a remarkable journey, which brings them face-to-face with the history and legacy of New England’s hidden slavery enterprise.

DeWolf Perry, who is currently earning his Ph.D. in political science at Harvard University, has investigated the history of the Atlantic slave trade and its abolition during the 19th century.

The event is sponsored by Social Workers United, the Graduate Student Organization, the College of Human Ecology’s School of Social Work and the LGBT Resource Center. For more information, contact the School of Social Work at (315) 443-5550.

About the College of Human Ecology at Syracuse University

The College of Human Ecology is dedicated to excellence in professional academic education and integrates publicly engaged scholarship as a philosophy and method in all of its degree programs. The college brings together a rich history of academic programs whose signatures of social responsibility and justice join new and evolving majors reflective of educating global citizens whose leadership can-and does-change the places and people where they live and work.

Previously known as the College of Human Services and Health Professions until it was renamed in 2007, the College of Human Ecology hosts seven departments with strong roots in SU history: Child and Family Studies; Health and Wellness; Hospitality Management; Marriage and Family Therapy; Nutrition Science and Dietetics; Sport Management; and the School of Social Work.