Equal Opportunity & Access

Martin Dupuis/Mukti Fund Leadership Award in Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT) Communities

Each year applications are accepted for the Martin Dupuis/Mukti Fund Leadership Award in Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT) Communities. The $1,400 award recognizes a student who has provided leadership either for a GLBT group and/or in regards to GLBT issues at Western Illinois University and who will be a returning undergraduate the next academic year.

To be considered for this award, students must complete an application, write a short essay and provide a resume and two letters of reference. The recipient of the award will be selected by the University Committee on Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression (UCOSOGIE).

In 2004, the Mukti Board of Trustees of the Mukti Fund, a private grant-making foundation, voted to establish the Martin Dupuis Leadership Award in recognition of Dupuis' service to the fund and to acknowledge the value WIU played in his professional life. The WIU Foundation received a gift of $70,000 to establish the annual award.

In 1983, Dupuis, a recent Albion (MI) College graduate, and Albion professor Michael Dively co-founded the Mukti Fund, which has been dedicated to expanding individual awareness and improving quality of life through community projects. They chose the name "mukti," which comes from Sanskrit, because it means liberation, said Dupuis, who has served as a trustee of the fund since its incorporation.

Dupuis served as an associate professor of political science, pre-law Honors adviser and associate director of Western's Centennial Honors College from 1997 until 2006, when he accepted a position as assistant dean at the Burnett Honors College at the University of Central Florida in Orlando.

2023-2024 applications, which are due Thursday, March 23, 2023 are available at 2023-24 Martin Dupuis scholarship application, Sherman Hall 312. Questions should be directed to the Director of Equal Opportunity and Access.