MLK Celebration Week culminates with impact awards, focus on building community connections

Northwest Missouri State University’s Center for Engagement and Community Connection capped its Celebration Week today, commemorating the work of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. with its annual Peace Luncheon and honoring five individuals with its Community Impact Awards.

The national theme for this year’s observance of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday, set by the King Center, was “Mission Possible 2: Building Community, Uniting a Nation – the Nonviolent Way.”

In alignment with that theme, Northwest presented its Community Impact Awards to honor individuals who have demonstrated a sustained commitment to the well-being and continual improvement of the University and the broader Maryville community.

“No matter how small they may seem, actions create ripples that strengthen our campus and our community,” Dr. Shay Malone, Northwest’s assistant vice president of institutional excellence and global engagement, said. “Today, we celebrate individuals whose commitments show up through kindness, service, leadership and care for others.”

This year’s award recipients were Amanda Cullin, the chief of Northwest’s University Police Department; Teresa Hayes, a local realtor; Dr. Paul Hindemith, an assistant professor of music; Northwest student Amaira Peterson; and Roger Stone, a custodian at Northwest.

Cullin was named Northwest’s police chief in 2024 and has been employed with the University Police Department since 2015. “Chief is dedicated to safety of students and employees on our entire campus and does it with her glowing, infectious smile,” her nominator wrote. “It has been said, through compassion, accountability and principled leadership, she has built meaningful partnerships with all communities. Chief Cullin has led with unwavering commitment to equity. Her work has strengthened trust with communities, that have too often felt unheard and undeserved, reminding us that true public safety is built on dignity and respect.”

Hayes, who also is a Northwest alumna, was recognized for her reputation as a community member who is not just passionate about real estate but enjoys working with people. Her nominator wrote, “She treats her clients as lifelong friends and is dedicated to finding the right home for each of them … Teresa's impact is felt through northwest Missouri in fostering warmth, a sense of belonging and community connection.”

Hindemith, who joined the Northwest faculty in 2022, teaches vocal music and advises Prism, the University’s LGBTQ+ student organization. “He is extremely talented and passionate about positive and relevant outcomes for students in education seeking to improve their circumstances,” his nominator wrote. “He has a passion for education and is a strong advocate for his students.”

Peterson, a senior international business major from Platte City, Missouri, was honored for the personal and professional standards she maintains while demonstrating a commitment to improving the student experience at Northwest. She is active with the Student Senate and Black Student Union, and she serves as a Jumpstart peer mentor, among other activities. “In the past four years, I’ve witnessed Amaira build resilience, grow through adversities, and be a voice and reason to advocate for students,” her nominator wrote.

Stone, who has been employed at Northwest for 15 years, was recognized for the ways he engages and supports students. His nominator wrote, “He greets every student with a big smile and a meaningful conversation. He is always asking how we are doing and how our class was. … He gives people a reason to smile even after we get out from a hard, draining class.”

The Peace Luncheon also featured Pamela Westbrooks-Hodge, a 1991 graduate of Northwest, as its keynote speaker.

A St. Louis native, Westbrooks-Hodge retired as a general partner at Edward Jones Investments, where she led enterprise-wide technology audit and risk strategy. Her three-decade career also included senior leadership roles with Express Scripts, Anheuser-Busch and Bank of America.

She serves on the Missouri State Board of Education, where she helps shape statewide education policy, chairs the Strategic Planning Committee and serves on the Governor’s School Funding Modernization Task Force. Additionally, she is president of the Celia Newsom Legacy Foundation, which preserves the story of her second great-grandmother, an enslaved Missouri woman whose 1855 act of self-defense against sexual violence and subsequent execution stand as a defining moment in the state’s legal and moral history.

Speaking to the theme of building community connections, Westbrooks-Hodge encouraged the gathering of Northwest faculty, staff, students and community members to embrace their personal stories and be willing to learn the stories of others – even when they are painful.

“Dr. King understood something we are still grappling with today – that progress without connection leads to fragmentation, that systems without empathy harden and that communities without service and support will fracture,” Westbrooks-Hodge said. “In many ways, we live in a time of extraordinary connectivity and yet profound disconnection. We are electronically linked, but sometimes we feel socially distant. We occupy shared spaces but do not always share respect. Dr. King’s answer to this was not retreat, it was engagement.”

Reflecting on her journey as an undergraduate student at Northwest, Westbrooks-Hodge recalled the connections she forged through her work with the Alliance of Black Collegians, the Bearcat Sweethearts and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. In addition to the academic preparation she gained in Northwest classrooms, her roles in campus organizations helped her build the competencies – such as listening, collaboration and service – that helped her succeed in her career.

“My professional journey from corporate governance and risk leadership to statewide education policy making to historic justice advocacy has been shaped by that foundation laid right here at Northwest Missouri State University,” Westbrooks-Hodge said. “I’ve spent decades again in rooms where I was often the only person who looked like me, but I no longer confuse being the only one with being alone – because connection, once internalized, anchors you even when you stand alone.”

Northwest’s Celebration Week activities also included a screening of the film “Ruby Bridges,” an art exhibit featuring the work of St. Louis-based visual artist Norman Spencer and a open mic night, coinciding with discussions and lectures that included a fireside chat with Spencer and Professor of History Dr. Elyssa Ford giving a presentation about Emancipation Day in Nodaway County.