Scholarship & Creative Work
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Esther Heffernan
April 2010—On April 22, 2010 a dinner was held in honor of Esther Heffernan, O.P., Ph.D, Professor Emerita in Social Science, for her lifetime of work toward peace and justice.
Click here to view photos from this event.
January 2010—Sr. Esther Heffernan concluded the teaching part of her career after her 2009-10 Winterim class.
On October 3rd, for her lifetime of activism, she was honored with the 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award by the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice, a statewide network of 170 organizations working for social change.
They noted, “Esther Heffernan began her lifelong social activism in the 1940s as a University of Chicago student working for interracial justice. … She is currently chair of the Task Force on Money, Education and Prisons, seeking change in Wisconsin‘s criminal justice system; a board member of Family Connections that brings children monthly to visit their mothers at Taycheedah Correctional Facility; and a member of the Dane County Task Forces on Disproportionate Juvenile Minority Confinement and on Racial Discrimination in the Criminal Justice System.”
On November 25th, Esther was given the Rotary Senior Service Award by the Madison, Wisconsin Rotary.
They noted, “Sr. Heffernan has also been a hands-on leader in numerous Madison area community organizations, serving as co-chair of the Task Force on Money, Education and Prisons; as a board member and secretary of Family Connections of Wisconsin, Inc.; on the advisory board of the MATC Police Science Program and boards of Catholic Social Services, Volunteers in Probation and St. Mary‘s Hospital Medical Center.” Moses Altsech nominated Esther for this award and prepared the introduction material.
