KU News Release

Andrea Lynne Peterson

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• Student Success

LAWRENCE — A graduating senior from Manhattan who has worked to end sweatshop labor will receive the 2010 Campanile Award, given by the senior class at the University of Kansas.

When she graduates on May 16, Andrea Lynne Peterson will receive bachelor’s degrees in political science and East Asian languages and cultures, and the $500 award that was established by the Class of 2000 to honor a graduating senior who has displayed remarkable leadership, character and respect for KU.

Following graduation, Peterson plans to move to Washington, D.C., to work in government service. Since fall 2008, she has worked in the Lawrence district office for U.S. Rep. Dennis Moore, D-Kan.

Peterson is vice president of University Senate, the all-university governing body that represents faculty, staff and students. She also serves on Student Senate as a junior/senior representative of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Within the campus community, Peterson has worked to raise awareness of labor rights and sweatshop labor conditions that can exploit workers, especially women and children. She founded and is president of KU Students Against Sweatshops. Under her leadership, KU Students Against Sweatshops collected more than 1,000 signatures to support monitoring of labor policies of firms licensed to produce KU apparel. Further, Peterson succeeded in getting the University Senate Athletics Committee to investigate compliance by licensees with the University’s Labor Code of Conduct.

Peterson also has been secretary for the KU Commission on the Status of Women and treasurer for KU Amnesty International. She was a delegate for Kansas’ third congressional district Democratic convention in 2008 and was an intern in the Kansas headquarters of the Obama for American campaign.

She considers her most significant contribution to the KU community as being aware of others’ needs.

“Throughout my time at KU I have dedicated every spare moment trying to engage my fellow students and show them ways they can affect change,” Peterson said. “Whether it’s working to combat sweatshop labor, championing women’s equality or even helping to elect our current president, I have been there.”

The 2007 Manhattan High School graduate is the daughter of Dallas and Susan Peterson.