Justin M. L. Freeman: Your 2021 Kate Hevner Mueller Awards Recipient

Kate Hevner Mueller served Indiana University from 1937 to 1969 as Dean of Women, Senior Counselor for Women, and Professor of Education. Dr. Mueller was a national pioneer for women professionals and developed the Master’s Program in College Student Personnel (Higher Education and Student Affairs) at Indiana University in the early 1950s. The Kate Hevner Mueller Senior Awards were established in 2013 to honor IU seniors who have proven leadership on campus both inside and outside of the classroom and who have improved the IU community by their presence.

This year, Indiana University has selected 28 outstanding recipients for the Kate Hevner Mueller Outstanding Senior Award. In this article, we congratulate Justin M. L. Freeman for his ability to represent Dr. Mueller’s essential goals of the university: to promote intellect, develop personality, and inspire citizenship and leadership to all students.

Justin M. L. Freeman

Justin will graduate from the Kelley School of Business with a Bachelor of Science in Economic Consulting, Public Policy Analysis and International Business.  As a first generation college student, Justin M. L. Freeman found opportunities through the IU Civic Leaders Center to serve as a student mentor, where he worked to increase diversity, equity and inclusion within the Civic Leaders Center. He also helped prospective international students and their families in South Korea and China learn about life at IU as part of the IU2U experience. Justin advocated for the increased media representation of diverse students at the highest leadership levels of IU Social Media, which led to the implementation of IU’s first “Hoosier Hype Team,” a group of diverse students whose experiences are highlighted on IU’s various media communications. Justin also served as the Director of Equity and Inclusion with Kelley Student Government, where he designed Black Lives Matter shirts to be distributed to Kelley Student Government members. He also led Black Lives Matter protests in Bloomington during the summer of 2020.

Justin found that during his time at Indiana University, he is indebted to so many people that helped him along the way. In his words:

Many people try to go through college “debt-free.” I like to think that if you do college “the right way,” there’s no way you can graduate debt-free. As I look back on my four years at IU, I realize my debt couldn’t be greater. I’m forever indebted to all the friends, professors, and mentors I’ve met along my journey here. I wouldn’t be here accepting this award without the countless opportunities and unending support offered to me while at this institution.