Pathfinder Awards

The original Pathfinder Award was created in 1986 to recognize Mankato area individuals or organizations that, in the spirit of Dr. King, are initiators or action-takers in the struggle for equal treatment, human rights, and non-violence.

The Greater Mankato Diversity Council originally held the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Pathfinder Awards event near Dr. King's birthdate. In 2023, the event was moved to the anniversary of Dr. King's visit and three public addresses in Mankato, MN on November 12, 1961.

Pathfinder Award: Created in 1986, the Pathfinder Award recognizes individuals or organizations that, in the spirit of Dr. King, are initiators or action takers in the struggle for equal treatment, human rights and non-violence. The award represents the ideal that all people should be treated fairly and equally without the fear of discrimination on any basis.

Young Pathfinder Award: Added in 2002, this award recognizes the commitment and courage displayed by area young people (age 18 or younger) to achieve fair and equal treatment for all, healthy communities, and peaceful resolution to conflicts.

Business Pathfinder Award: First presented in 2003, this award recognizes area businesses that strive for equal treatment, human rights, and non-violence in the workplace.

>>>> Placeholder for annual recipient bios /// adjust all HIDE options to SHOW /// recommend moving this annual recipient profile section to a cumulative "pathfinder profiles" page in advance of every new set. [delete this comment before "show" !! <<<<

2023 Award Recipient Profiles

Recipient name

Pathfinder

Profile / bio

Recipient name

Business Pathfinder

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Recipient name

Young Pathfinder

Profile / bio

2023 Award Recipient Profile

Dr. Jameel Haque

Associate Professor of History,
Director of the Kessel Peace Institute,
Minnesota State University, Mankato

Pathfinder

Jameel Haque is an associate professor of History at Minnesota State University, Mankato. Since January of 2020, Jameel has also served as the director of the Kessel Peace Institute. The Kessel Peace Institute has been working for social justice causes in the Mankato community since 1993. Dr. Haque's academic research involves writing about the actions of the US state department in the Middle East, as well as discussing the Islamophobia that has been built into the way we teach history in the US. Jameel has lived in Mankato since 2014 and has spent much of that time working on social justice projects.

Previous Award Recipients

Pathfinders

2023 Jameel Haque
2022 no award this year
2021 no award this year
2020 Jennifer and Richmond Clark, Northside Hair Company
2019 Dan and Kirstin Cronn-Mills, founders of the Ally Network, a Facebook group that supports marginalized communities and works to encourage activism.
2018 Diana Joseph
2017 The REACH Youth Drop-In Center
2016 Bud Lawrence
2015 David Burgess
2014 Bev Mountain
2013 Scott Fee
2012 Wilbur Neuschwander-Frink
2011 Adam Osman
2010 Aish Ali
2010 Lisa Spieker, Rasmussen College Mankato Diversity Committee, and Sally Kvebak, English and US Culter teacher to newcomer immigrant students at East HS
2009 KMSU
2008 Center for Earth Spirituality and Rural Ministry
2007 Steve Oachs
2006 Ed Waltrman
2005 YWCA
2004 Mary Lou Kadela
2003 Linda Javens
2002 Nithy Javahar Sevanthinathan
2001 Multicultural Resource Center
2000 Marian Anderson
1999 Eunice Simonson
1998 Lorraine Hansen
1997 Robert Barrett
1996 Kate Marten and East Side Jr. Civitan
1995 Gladys Neiman and Clair Faust, Minnesota Valley Regional Library
1994 Erma Beinke
1993 Althia deGraft-Johnson and Hand-Maid Sweets (Charles Catale)
1992 Charlie Beck, Jim Buckley, and Mary Dowd
1991 David Sullivan and Blue Earth County Human Services
1990 Larry Gaffin and Bud Lawrence
1989 John Considine and SSND (School Sisters of Notre Dame)
1988 Michael Fagin, Mary Lofy, and Welcome Inn

Young Pathfinders

2023 no award this year
2022 no award this year
2021 no award this year
2020 Bobbi Hampton and Nijae Carter, Mankato West High School
2019 Kyle Kehoe
2018 Lauren Senden
2017 no award this year
2016 Elora Greiner
2015 Kos Adam
2014 Mankato East Student Council, Executive Board
2013 Loyola Catholic School, Fair Trade School
2012 Zeynab Omar
2011 Dr. Avra Johnson
2010 Mankato East High School senior
2009 Megan Malony
2008 Akram Mohamed
2007 no award this year
2006 Nick Burkhart
2005 East High School Diversity Club and Melissa Melendez
2004 Mankato West SHINE
2003 Tina Gee
2002 Road to Understanding

Make a career of humanity. Commit yourself to the noble struggle for equal rights. You will make a better person of yourself, a greater nation of your country, and a finer world to live in."

- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., April 18, 1959, March for Integrated Schools

Business Pathfinders

2023 no award this year
2022 no award this year
2021 no award this year
2020 Destiny Owens, Founder, Black Excellence Around Mankato (BEAM) and Dr. Timothy Berry, Composer, "OVERCOMING"
2019 Dan and Angie Bastian, founders and former owners of BoomChickaPop, and
2018 Cambria
2017 no award this year
2016 MRCI Workforce Center
2015 Imperial Plastics
2014 Sodexo
2013 Hy-Vee
2012 Lloyd Management, Inc.
2011 The Free Press
2010 The Coffee Hag
2008 Eide Bailly, Hahn Huy Phan
2009 Coughlan Companies
2007 Mankato Clinic
2006 Greater Mankato Diversity Council
2005 Immanuel-St. Joseph’s Mayo Health Systems
2004 Charley Sadaka
2003 Mankato Ford