Center Associate Director Penelope Van Tuyl Awarded 2024 Amy J. Blue Award

As further evidence of her amazing spirit and commitment to Stanford, Center for Human Rights and International Justice Associate Director Penelope Van Tuyl was one of three recipients of the 2024 Amy J. Blue Award. The award is named after an associate vice president for administrative services and facilities, who tragically died of brain cancer in 1988. For the past 30 years, the prestigious award has been presented to exceptional Stanford staff for their contributions to the university, passion for their work, and support for their colleagues. 

“Amy J. Blue’s friends saw and valued Amy for who she was and the passion she brought to her work for this university,” Van Tuyl said. “To get that same recognition from my own friends and colleagues means more than I can say. Receiving this award makes me feel very seen and valued for the things I value most about my job.”

This year, the Stanford community submitted 712 nominations for 293 individuals. The Center team — and dozens of others across the campus who nominated Penelope — were delighted to see her recognized with the award just in time for the Center to celebrate its 10th anniversary at Stanford. 

At a time when human rights abuses can often feel insurmountable, Van Tuyl has inspired countless Stanford students to become catalysts for change. Together with Center Faculty Co-Director David Cohen, Van Tuyl launched the undergraduate minor in human rights. In the popular gateway course she teaches, HUMRTS 101, Van Tuyl helps her students grapple with the gaps between the promise of human rights doctrine and the reality of ongoing global oppression. 

Van Tuyl came to know Cohen over 20 years ago as a law student at UC Berkeley, and they started working together at UC Berkeley’s War Crimes Studies Center. The Center moved to Stanford in 2014 to eventually become the Center for Human Rights and International Justice. Since then, Van Tuyl has been involved in every aspect of the Center, managing operations, the budget, supervising staff, and supporting academic and research programs.

“It may have begun life at Berkeley, but at Stanford, the Center truly leapt up and soared, enabled by the rich relationships that Penelope forged for the last 10 years,” wrote one of Penelope’s many nominators.

Cohen and Center Faculty Co-Director Kiyo Tsutsui broke the exciting news about the award to Van Tuyl during a fake meeting. And just before the May 16 award ceremony, in which Van Tuyl was officially recognized by University President Richard Saller and representatives of the award committee, the Center team collaborated with Stanford Global Studies to throw a surprise celebration in her honor, attended by dozens of faculty, staff, and students.

Center Associate Director for Strategy and Program Development jbrunner [at] stanford.edu (Jessie Brunner) had the tremendous honor of introducing Van Tuyl at the ceremony, outlining some of her key achievements and truly impressive commitment to the Center’s student community. 

“At the human rights Center, we often remark at the number of students who leave our offices saying ‘I feel so much better!’ – this is in large part thanks to Penelope,” Brunner said. “I’ve long felt this award was created with Penelope in mind … Penelope reflects in high definition Amy Blue’s legacy of ambition, vibrance, and decency, as well as her deep commitment to family. … Penelope will work as hard to pursue a just and fair outcome for her students or her team as she would her own daughters.”

In her remarks, Van Tuyl reflected on her deep connection to the University, having been born at Stanford hospital some years after her parents met here at undergraduates, and later met her future husband on campus as high schools participating in a summer program. 

“Getting to work in this environment and be around great people every day brings me a tremendous amount of joy,” she said. “I also have a ton of personal history here, so this place feels like home.”