A portrait of Martha Dawson is now hanging in the East Lounge of the Indiana Memorial Union.

Martha Dawson is one of the most illustrious alumni from the IU School of Education, where she earned her masters and doctoral degrees. She returned to IU as a professor of education, the first African American woman to become a tenured member of the IU Bloomington faculty.

While at IU, she directed and developed a multi-cultural program centered around working with other professors to address minority students’ learning; the program focused on how to improve the curriculum and the techniques being used to best support the students.

Read more about Martha at the Voices from the IU Bicentennial blog.

The portrait, painted by Dianna Porter, was possible through a generous gift from The Davee Foundation. Several of Dawson’s family members were in attendance for the unveiling.