Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies Major Clare Sheedy '23 Named 21st Century Leader 

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Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies major Clare Sheedy '23 has been named one of the 10 undergraduate recipients of the 21st Century Leaders Award, which honors the exemplary achievements, initiative, and leadership of some of UMass Amherst's most talented and accomplished students. She will be recognized during the Commencement 2023 on Friday, May 26, at McGuirk Alumni Stadium.

This year’s 10 undergraduate recipients of the 21st Century Leaders Award were chosen in recognition of their strong academic records and exemplary achievements. They also further distinguished themselves through intellectual accomplishments and will be recognized for the prestige and honor they bring to the University of Massachusetts Amherst, both as undergraduates and as alumni joining the larger community.

Sheedy, of Pittsfield, earned double majors in public health and in women, gender, sexuality studies and a Five College certificate in reproductive health, rights and justice. She is renowned on campus for her effectiveness in a plethora of leadership positions connected to social justice and social progress.

Among her many accomplishments, Sheedy is proudest of being a guest lecturer for a Stanford Law School course on the law, politics and policy of campus sexual assault and for giving a related TEDx talk about sexual violence. These talks were informed by her extensive activism at UMass. She was a founding member of the student-led Title IX Task Force, which pushed for change in sexual misconduct policies and processes, and she subsequently played a crucial role in the implementation of the campus Survivor’s Bill of Rights.

Sheedy was elected speaker of the SGA and selected as a 2022 UMass Women into Leadership Fellow. She served on numerous advisory boards and volunteered as a counselor advocate at the Center for Women & Community and as a peer health educator while also working at several campus jobs.