Kiran Sundar Honored with the 2022 Community Impact Student Award

Kiran Sundar is posing smiling for a picture outside, leaning against a railing, in the background are trees and grass. He is wearing a pink, black and white flannel over a black T-shirt with a stag silhouette colored with the patterns of the trans flag (white, pink, and blue bands).

ELON, NC – Duke University student Kiran Sundar has been selected for outstanding leadership and service by North Carolina Campus Engagement, a statewide network of colleges and universities committed to preparing students for civic and social responsibility. Sundar is a recipient of the network’s Community Impact Student Award (CISA), which honors one student leader at each member school. CISA recognizes students with a deep commitment to community involvement and ability to inspire peers. NC Campus Engagement honored the recipients during a virtual awards ceremony on November 18, 2022.

Sundar, a senior majoring in Psychology with minors in Gender, Sexuality, & Feminist Studies and Neuroscience, has taken on multiple campus leadership roles, all of which have included collaboration with peers, development and implementation of programming, and advocacy that supports a network of queer and trans students and their allies both in policies and education. Through the Duke Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity he has helped to build community and affinity spaces for LGBTQ+ students and to educate community members on best allyship practices. Through work with Blue Devils United, Sundar has advocated for Duke undergraduate students’ needs, including all-gender housing, faculty trainings on LGBTQ+ identities, and university IDs that reflect chosen names. He also helped create Marsha’s Home, a Living-Learning Community for Duke students interested in LGBTQ+ community and culture. He has also facilitated relationships between campus groups and community organizations to provide programming and event support. Sundar has also developed and faciliated multiple presentations and trainings for faculty and students related to LGBTQ+ issues. 

Sundar’s nominators spoke highly of the fact that his efforts have “broad reaching impacts beyond efforts on campus due to the nature of LGBTQ+ advocacy that requires culture shifting, education, and cultivation of individuals.”

North Carolina Campus Engagement is a collaborative network of colleges and universities committed to educating students for civic and social responsibility, partner with communities for positive change, and strengthen democracy. Learn more at www.ncccampusengagement.org. 

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