Award Recipients
Bruce Nissen
(Florida International University)
Joan Wynne – Honorable Mention
(Florida International University)
Award Committee Assessment
The award committee reviewed several nominees from the Miami area. However, we were unanimous in selecting Dr. Bruce Nissen for this year’s Activist Scholar Award. We agree with the statements made by his nominators that are cited here:
As Research Director of the Florida International University Center for Labor Research and Studies and the founding director of the Research Institute on Social and Economic Policy, Dr. Nissen has spent the past 18 years working in collaboration with community based organizations, labor and grassroots organizers for social and economic justice in Miami. His journal articles, book chapters and research reports stem from research conducted in close collaboration with community organizations including the Miami Workers Center, Power U, We Count!, South Florida Jobs with Justice, and activist unions such as SEIU Healthcare Workers Union and AFSCME 1184. Dr. Nissen’s involvement with the Coalition for a Living Wage and his research on the economic impact of a living wage in Miami resulted in the passage of three local living wage ordinances in the early 2000’s.
Dr. Nissen has carved out a unique role for himself and his center in addressing the needs of urban residents and workers in greater Miami, and indeed in Florida and beyond. He is a respected and prolific scholar. His work, along with that of colleagues in the center, has focused on key areas such as wage theft, income inequality, immigrant rights, workforce development, impacts of economic development policies, living wage ordinance impacts and many more areas in the realm of economic justice. Additionally, he has worked with community groups in South Florida and is sought after for his expertise by media outlets locally and nationally. His entire career embodies that of a scholar-activist who brings his experiences into the classroom and his expertise into the community.
Dr. Nissen embodies what this award is all about, a person who creates a symbiotic relationship between learning, teaching, research and action. Such individuals are the realization of how the academic community can serve the well-being of our larger society. He is a role model for engaged and committed researchers across the globe.
Each year the Activist Scholar Award committee faces the difficult task of selecting one recipient. The nominees are excellent and each deserves recognition. However, only one person can be selected under award policies. This year, the award committee made a rare decision to give an Honorable Mention to a second nominee. That compelling nominee is Dr. Joan Wynne. The committee was impressed by the clear commitment and extraordinary character shown by Dr. Wynne throughout her career.
Her work is aptly described by one nominator: Dr. Wynne has worked at putting urban education at the forefront of the College of Education at Florida International University, as well as in Miami-Dade. She has led several collaborative initiatives between FIU and the public schools, including The Education Effect, The Algebra Project and The Young Peoples Project. Dr. Wynne coordinated FIU’s Algebra Project Summer Institute. Recently Dr. Wynne and FIU graduate students traveled 18 hours by bus to the Freedom Summer 50 experience, along with 12 middle and high school students from Liberty City.
Dr. Wynne has worked to impact issues related to school inequity, race/racism and school reform. “Confessions of a White Educator: Stories in Search of Justice and Diversity”, is Dr. Wynne’s most recent edited book. She is the epitome of a scholar activist; her work is less about creating programs and more about a mission. She can be found in her office as much as she is in the community.
Dr. Wynne is an obvious trailblazer who fearlessly seeks to build bridges and promote equity in education and within our society as a whole. She epitomizes what the Activist Scholar Award is about—bringing the academy to the people and advancing the well-being of all.
