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May 18, 2009
Dorsainvil shares wealth of education, passions

By Beverly Clark

Monique Dorsainvil’s dedication to cultivating positive social change both on campus and beyond led to her winning the 2009 Lucius Lamar McMullan Award, one of Emory’s highest student honors which also comes with $20,000 — no strings attached.

Dorsainvil ’09C, a women’s studies major and global health minor, and an Emory Scholar, is donating a portion of the award to the Tiana Angelique Notice Foundation, founded by the Center for Women’s Sasha Smith, after the murder of her sister.

In addition to saving up for graduate school, Dorsainvil plans to start college savings accounts for her two younger brothers. “I believe that education is one of the most liberating and enabling gifts that can be given,” said Dorsainvil. “With the education I have, I really feel like I can do anything now.”

The Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow spent a summer in Thailand to work with the transgender Kathoey culture. She volunteered with the Ashraya Initiative for Children in India, and traveled to Haiti and with the Emory Development Institute to Tanzania and Ethiopia.

Next year, she plans to apply for joint degree JD/PhD programs in women’s studies and law, with a focus on public interest. “I have many passions . . . Currently I’m focusing my energy on government and political advocacy,” she said.

She has been a programmer at the Center for Women, on the President’s Commission on the Status of Women and co-founder of Feminists in Action. She also has been active in Emory’s Transforming Community Project.