Marquette Professor Honored in New Smithsonian Museum

Released: August 23, 2004

MILWAUKEE – A local Marquette professor is among national and international heroes being honored in a new Smithsonian museum that will be dedicated in Cincinnati, Ohio today, Monday, August 23, 2004. The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center is a living and learning center offering lessons and reflections on the ongoing struggle for freedom.

Dr. Judy Mayotte, a professor in Marquette's Theology Department, will be honored in the Museum's “Hall of Everyday Freedom Heroes.” This permanent exhibit will pay tribute to 100 people who have dedicated their lives to furthering the cause of freedom locally, nationally and around the world. Dr. Mayotte will be honored among luminaries including Nelson Mandela, Muhammad Ali, Senator John McCain, Jackie Robinson, Todd Beamer, Ryan White, and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dr. Mayotte's life story is truly inspiring. As the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel described her in 2002, “Judith Mayotte has been a sorority girl, a polio victim, a nun (twice), a wife, a widow, an amputee, a crusader.” For the past 3 decades she had dedicated her life to working with refugees in war torn nations, even at great personal cost. She lost her leg in 1993 while working in the Sudan when a 200 lb. bag of grain feel from a helicopter onto her leg during a food drop. Rather than sitting on the sidelines, she accepted an appointment from the Clinton Administration to serve as an advisor on refugee policy.

Dr. Mayotte continues her work to transform nations and dig deeper into the issues of peace and justice while establishing Marquette University's International Service Learning Institute in Cape Town, South Africa.

The dedication festivities for the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center will begin with a live broadcast from the Freedom Center grounds by the CBS Early Show. Other special broadcasts and tapings that day will include the NBA, Good Morning America, MTV, C-Span, and WCPO (Cincinnati). The formal program will be emceed by Angela Bassett and will feature special appearances by Sean P. Combs, Bono, and others.

For more information on the museum or its dedication, please visit www.freedomcenter.org . For additional assistance contacting Dr. Judy Mayotte or details on press coverage of Monday's event, please contact Brigid O'Brien in the Office of Public Affairs at 414-288-7445.