Dr. Anne Stewart

Anne Stewart lifts people up. This Madison professor has witnessed firsthand the power of the human spirit and helped nurture it to face down unimaginable tragedy — like the Indian Ocean tsunami, Hurricane Katrina and landmines. And she does it with a gentle compassion and unique sparkle. "Here, by the sea with these children," she said about her tsunami relief trip to Sri Lanka, "I understand again the resilience of children and the important contribution of play in changing a legacy of destruction and loss to a future of hope." As a licensed clinical psychologist and play therapist, Anne has devoted her career to crisis intervention, family counseling, child abuse prevention and child day care. While her work in humanitarian demining and international collaboration takes her around the world, she uses her teaching and global and local outreach activities to imbue JMU students with the skills and values they, in turn, need to help counsel and nurture the human spirit.