Holman and her fellow 2016 recipients 鈥� Hans Abrahamsen, Gary Haugen, Victor Boutros, Karl Alexander, Linda Olson and Steven Maier 鈥� are the latest in a line of more than 130 people whose powerful ideas and creative works have been encircled in the spotlight of H. Charles Grawemeyer鈥檚 vision and generosity. A University of Louisville graduate, entrepreneur and philanthropist, Grawemeyer believed ideas have the power to change the world and so established the awards program to recognize听achievements in several fields of endeavor: music composition, world order, education, religion and psychology.

The 2016 honorees recently visited the University of Louisville to accept their $100,000 prizes and to discuss their award-winning works with hundreds of lecture-attending students, faculty, staff and community members. 听听

Hans Abrahamsen 鈥� Music Composition

The Grawemeyer Award-winning song cycle for soprano and orchestra, 鈥渓et me tell you,鈥� is about 鈥渁 woman who dares now to take her words and tell her story,鈥� said Danish composer .

His half-hour work presents a first-person narrative by Ophelia, the tragic noblewoman from Shakespeare鈥檚 鈥淗amlet.鈥� The libretto by Paul Griffiths is adapted from his 2008 novel 鈥� also titled 鈥渓et me tell you鈥� 鈥� and consists of seven poems created using only the minimal vocabulary that Shakespeare originally scripted for Ophelia.听

鈥淭he voice of the singer, somehow she is created out of the orchestra, out of the music,鈥� said Abrahamsen. 鈥淪he becomes stronger and stronger.鈥�

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Gary Haugen and Victor Boutros 鈥� Ideas Improving World Order

鈥淭he poor are struggling to get out of their circumstances of desperation and that effort is just totally undercut by these predatory forces of violence that are not being controlled in the developing world,鈥� said Haugen, founder and president of the International Justice Mission, a human rights organization that works with local authorities to combat violence and build justice systems. 听

The absence of law enforcement in developing countries and how it undermines the fight against global poverty is explored in the 2014 book, 鈥淭he Locust Effect: Why the End of Poverty Requires the End of Violence.鈥� The work earned this year鈥檚 award for Ideas Improving World Order.

鈥淵ou don鈥檛 want to draw nearer to pain that you feel can鈥檛 change. For me, the great hope that has come from doing this work 鈥� is seeing that [conditions] do change,鈥� said Boutros, a visiting scholar at George Washington University Law School and a former federal prosecutor for the U.S. Department of Justice, where he investigated human trafficking and hate crimes around the country. 鈥淭hat has been such an encouragement that the Grawemeyer Award has brought to me because I know that its focus is not just on world impact, but ideas that are really feasible.鈥�

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Karl Alexander and Linda Olson 鈥� 成人直播 听

成人直播 can鈥檛 trump impoverished beginnings. That key conclusion, outlined in the 2014 book 鈥淭he Long Shadow: Family Background, Disadvantaged Urban Youth, and the Transition to Adulthood,鈥� earned authors this year鈥檚 education prize. The sociologists鈥� decades-long research study of 800 Baltimore-area urban youths from first grade through adulthood challenges the idea that access to public education means equal opportunity.

鈥淲e鈥檇 like to think this is the land of opportunity. That if you work hard, play by the rules, do what your parents tell you, do what your teachers tell you, then good things will follow,鈥� said Alexander. 鈥淲e would like to think that we鈥檙e able to deliver on that promise, but in point of fact, the reality is: it falls short.鈥� 听

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Susan R. Holman 鈥� Religion

Having earned degrees in religious studies, nutrition and psychology, , a senior writer at the Global Health 成人直播 and Learning Incubator at Harvard University, is uniquely qualified to address what she calls a 鈥渄ivide between religion and health.鈥� Her award-winning idea鈥攖hat faith-based and human rights organizations鈥� divergent ideological approaches can create discord and ultimately undermine both groups鈥� efforts to address global health issues 鈥� is examined in the book, 鈥淏eholden: Religion, Global Health, and Human Rights.鈥�

鈥淚 thought, 鈥楾here needs to be some kind of basic primer to help my faith-based friends actually learn the 鈥� human rights language and something that would also speak to the public health people to realize that dialogue and appreciation for history has benefits,鈥� 鈥� said Holman.

The religion prize is awarded jointly by the University of Louisville and the .

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Steven Maier 鈥� Psychology

鈥淲hat makes some people vulnerable to bad events and what makes others resilient and bounce back?鈥� said , distinguished professor of psychology and neuroscience and Center for Neuroscience director at University of Colorado-Boulder. 鈥淥nce we can get an idea of the fundamental differences, can we figure out how the brain makes this happen?鈥�

His pursuit to answer these questions led to the discovery of a brain mechanism that not only produces resilience to trauma but also aids in coping with future adversity and earned Maier the 2016 psychology prize. The idea that behavioral control induces resilience has become important in psychology, neuroscience and other academic disciplines, as well as clinical research and therapies for depression and anxiety disorders. Maier laid the groundwork for understanding the brain mechanism involved in how one assesses and deals with adverse events.

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Interested in hearing more from the 2016 Grawemeyer Award winners?听 Listen to these extended interviews featured on the UofL Today with Mark Hebert radio show:

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