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History professor helps build a more inclusive campus and community

| Judy Berthiaume (story); Glen Mabie (video)

As previously published in the 2021 Blugold View online alumni magazine, Dr. Selika Ducksworth-Lawton has spent nearly three decades working to make people and communities better. The professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire works tirelessly as a teacher, advocate, mentor, activist, community-builder and leader — work dedicated to equity, diversity, inclusion and social justice in the Chippewa Valley and throughout the state. 

Ducksworth-Lawton’s work hasn’t gone unnoticed. Most recently she received the 2021 Martin Luther King Social Justice Leadership Award and the 2021 UW System Board of Regents Diversity Award. She was named to the Black Power List of 2018 by Madison 365, recognizing her as one of the most influential Black leaders in Wisconsin.

“People come to me when they need something done, not when they need to still fight,” Ducksworth-Lawton says. “They come to me when they want to see a plan and a path to get things done. I’ve always been that way. But, while I do get things accomplished, I don’t do it by running over people.”

Read the full story in the Blugold View online to learn more about this instrumental community leader and the ways in which her efforts and spirit promote education, healing and growth in the Eau Claire community and in Blugold students who take her lessons wherever they go.