‘Outstanding Women’ honored

Harvard College Dean Evelynn Hammonds and Swanee Hunt, Eleanor Roosevelt Lecturer in Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), received the Outstanding Women Award from the YWCA Cambridge on Oct. 29. Hammonds and Hunt were two of nine area women to receive the award at a luncheon at the Charles Hotel.

“It’s an honor to be recognized by an organization that does so much to support the lives of women and people of color,” said Hammonds. “I’m proud to be included in such a distinguished group of recipients.”

The ceremony celebrated the contributions of women who exemplify the YWCA Cambridge’s mission of eliminating racism and empowering women, and highlighted the organization’s work in the community.

Hammonds was introduced by master of ceremonies and longtime WCVB-TV Channel 5 anchorwoman Susan Wornick. In presenting Hammonds with the YWCA award, Wornick cited the dean’s work as the University’s first senior vice provost for faculty development and diversity, and as the founding director of the Center for the Study of Diversity in Science, Technology, and Medicine at M.I.T. The Barbara Gutmann Rosenkrantz Professor of the History of Science and of African and African American Studies, Hammonds is also a scholar of scientific, medical, and sociopolitical concepts of race; gender in science and medicine; and of African-American history.

Hunt was unable to be at the day’s ceremony. Her award was accepted by Cambridge city councilor Denise Simmons, herself a YWCA honoree. Wornick highlighted Hunt’s work as a senior adviser to the Initiative to Stop Human Trafficking at Harvard’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, and as a founder of HKS’s Women and Public Policy Program. Simmons called Hunt an “extraordinary woman,” and lauded her work as president of the Cambridge-based Hunt Alternatives Fund, which supports organizations working for social change.

For more on the awards ceremony and the Cambridge YWCA, visit www.ywcacam.org.