Elizabeth Coleman Visionary Leadership Award : Related Content

Environmentalist, educator, and founder and CEO of ECO City Farms, Margaret Morgan-Hubbard ’67 has been named the 2022 recipient of Bennington College’s Elizabeth Coleman Visionary Leadership Award.

Performer, healthcare clown, and Healthy Humor co-founder Deborah Kaufmann ’74 is the 2021 recipient of Bennington College’s Elizabeth Coleman Visionary Leadership Award.

Cardiologist, author, documentarian, and patient advocate Dr. Jennifer H. Mieres ’82 is the 2020 recipient of Bennington College’s Elizabeth Coleman Visionary Leadership Award.

Educator, composer, and instrument-builder John Bertles ’81 is the 2019 recipient of Bennington College’s Elizabeth Coleman Visionary Leadership Award. 

International human rights and racial justice lawyer Gay Johnson McDougall ’69 is the 2018 recipient of Bennington College’s Elizabeth Coleman Visionary Leadership Award.

After graduating from Bennington, Ben Hall ’04—this year’s recipient of the Elizabeth Coleman Visionary Leadership Award—says he moved back to his home city of Detroit to live cheaply and “try every single thing that he wanted to do.” Some 13 years later—now a chef, musician, artist, and activist—his to-do list involves reversing children’s food insecurity and empowering minimum wage employees in the food service industry.

Sheila Lewandowski '97, longtime arts advocate and co-founder of The Chocolate Factory, an award-winning incubator for experimental performance in Queens, New York, has been awarded the 2016 Elizabeth Coleman Visionary Leadership Award at Bennington College.

Victoria Sammartino '99 was awarded the Dr. Elizabeth Coleman Visionary Leadership Award. Sammartino is the founder of Voices UnBroken, a nonprofit dedicated giving vulnerable young people--including those in juvenile justice facilities, group homes, residential treatment facilities, jails, and other alternative settings--tools and opportunity for creative self-expression. Inspired by her experience teaching poetry readings on Rikers Island while a student, she began the nonprofit one year after graduating from Bennington.

Holly Block '80 was awarded the inaugural Dr. Elizabeth Coleman Visionary Leadership Award.