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Prof. Emily Auerbach honored with MOSES award;she’s nominated by an Odyssey student

Continuing Studies Prof. Emily Auerbach recently received an award for her leadership and commitment to improving the lives of many in Madison from the Madison Organizing in Strength, Equality and Solidarity group (MOSES). It was the first time the honor was awarded.

A special pleasure attached to the award was that Auerbach was nominated by James Morgan, who graduated in June from The Odyssey Project. Auerbach is director of the free six-credit UW-Madison humanities course that is designed for adults who live at poverty-level. Morgan chose to nominate Auerbach “for all she has contributed, not only to the individual lives she has touched, but to the entire community.”

Morgan also wrote: “Meeting Emily for the first time was a bit intimidating because I had heard she would, with a stern and yet loving embrace, require myself and others to believe in ourselves. I’d heard that she would encourage us to accept the challenge that self analysis requires and the reward of a higher education.”

The UW Continuing Studies professor was honored, as Morgan said, because she has shown that her commitment to others “is not couched in mere feel-good rhetoric, but exemplified by the work she does.” The Odyssey Project, now in its 11th year, has served as a jump-start program to help more than 250 low-income adults on their road to higher education.

MOSES is a group of united religious congregations, individuals, and nonprofit associations with the goal of making a better community in Madison. Its mission is to take action on social justice issues affected by public policy, beginning with the problem of mass incarceration. It is an affiliate of WISDOM, a statewide network of similar organizations.