Prof. Graham Peaslee is the 2024 recipient of the Hesburgh Legacy Award. Building upon the legacy of Fr. Ted Hesburgh and his national and international leadership, this award celebrates and inspires meaningful academic contributions to social justice and peace, particularly on issues of strategic importance to the University, the Church, and the world. Up to one award will be made annually, whether for individual or collaborative achievements.
The citiation for the award reads:
Building upon the legacy of Rev. Ted Hesburgh and his national and international leadership, the Hesburgh Legacy Award honors a faculty member or administrator whose body of academic work and life promote and exemplify social justice and peace, particularly on issues of strategic importance to the University, the Church, and the world. Graham Peaslee’s sustained commitment to social justice is marked by his tireless efforts to tackle complex environmental health issues affecting underprivileged communities. His work is centered on environmental pollutants and contaminants that are known to have long-term, negative health consequences for people exposed to them. Actively working in close collaboration with other faculty team members, community leaders, and government agencies, Peaslee has helped develop mitigation strategies that are both cost-effective and more ethical and communityfriendly. Because environmental contaminants are not unique to our region, the strategies being developed locally have the capacity to be scaled up and disseminated more broadly to effect change at national and global scales as well. Professor Peaslee’s life and body of academic work epitomize the Catholic call for academic research to be a force for good, and his foci align directly with the University’s ongoing commitment to promote health and well-being and to preserve our common home.