UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The 2025 Linda Stein Upstander Award recipient, Melissa Leaym-Fernandez, will be recognized March 25 on Penn State’s University Park campus. She also will present results of her Penn State University Libraries award-administered research project, “The Marginalized Upstander: Engaging the Archives of Linda Stein Through Teen Superpowers of ‘The Ugly Doll Project,’” which referenced archival materials from the University Libraries’ Linda Stein Art Education Collection in the Eberly Family Special Collections Library and Stein’s papers at Smith College.
Leaym-Fernandez will speak at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 25, in Foster Auditorium, first floor Paterno Library, and online via Zoom registration.
The Linda Stein Upstander Award honoring Joyce and Diane Froot annually supports social justice activists from around the world whose artistic or scholarly work promotes upstander activities. Stein’s art and educational initiatives explore social justice and the dichotomies of power/vulnerability, masculinities/femininities and war-making/peacemaking. An online legacy statement about the Linda Stein Upstander Award describes Joyce Froot and Stein’s friendship spanning nearly five decades and Froot’s active collection of Stein’s artwork.
Applications now open for 2027 award
Justice activists from around the world whose artistic or scholarly work promotes upstander activities are encouraged to apply for the 2027 Linda Stein Upstander Award. Applicants are expected to have specific plans to research archival materials from the Linda Stein Art Education Collection at Penn State and Stein’s papers at Smith College.
The annual award recipient will receive $5,000 to support travel and related research expenses and will have full access to Penn State’s Linda Stein Art Education Collection in the University Libraries’ Eberly Family Special Collections and Stein’s papers at Smith College Libraries’ Special Collections, as well as Stein’s websites haveartwilltravel.org and lindastein.com.
Interested applicants can visit the online application form for more information. The application deadline for the 2027 award is 11:59 p.m. on Feb. 1.
The 2026 Linda Stein Upstander Award recipient will be announced in May.