Satarupa Dasgupta, KLN ’11, received four awards for her community-engaged research, activism and mentoring of undergraduate students by multiple divisions of the National Communication Association (NCA).
The Activism and Social Justice Division’s Community Engagement Award recognizes activism that transcends the academy, going above and beyond research and teaching, to impact communities. The Scholar-Activist Award from the Critical and Cultural Studies division honors a scholar who significantly contributes to their communities above and beyond their research, teaching, and/or service with activist interventions. The Monograph of the Year 2025 Award from the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Communication Studies Division is given to the author of an outstanding monograph or scholarly article advancing GLBTQ communication scholarship. Dasgupta received the award for her article titled “Examination of Identity Negotiation, Sexual Health Behavior, and Healthcare-Seeking Behavior of Transgender Sex Workers in India,” published in the journal "Sexes."
Finally, the chapter of Lambda Pi Eta, NCA’s communication honor society, which Dasgupta supervises, received the national best chapter award from the association.
“This [award] was for student success in scholarship and leadership,” Dasgupta said. “I have been the faculty advisor of Lambda Pi Eta at the College for the past five years. I am particularly happy, as all my students are undergraduate students.”
Dasgupta’s undergraduate students were also highly visible at the conference. Two of her undergraduate students co-wrote and presented a paper on critical and cultural communication pedagogy-based strategies for catering to the needs of neurodiverse undergraduate students at a Disability Issues Caucus panel. A student presented her paper on autism representation in religion, and that paper was one of the top papers in the Lambda Pi Eta division. Another student had his paper on the importance of inclusion of non-binary, gender diverse topics in high school sex education curriculum accepted for presentation in a Research in Progress roundtable.