Lillian Mae Olsen, an environmental studies major in the University of Vermont College of Arts and Sciences, has been named the recipient of UVM’s Katherine Anne Kelly Award, which honors a student who demonstrates extraordinary resilience, leadership, and commitment in the face of significant health related challenges.

Throughout their time at the University of Vermont, Olsen has paired exceptional academic achievement with transformative campus leadership. A consistent member of the Dean’s List and a Phi Beta Kappa inductee, they have maintained an outstanding GPA while navigating serious and ongoing health challenges that might have derailed many students’ education. Instead, Olsen turned these experiences into a source of purpose and advocacy.

Olsen is best known for their leadership as president of the Disabled Student Union (DSU), where they worked tirelessly to improve accessibility, policy, and campus culture for disabled students. Under their leadership, DSU achieved tangible improvements across campus, including accessibility audits, transportation and parking reforms, improved bus driver disability training, and renovations to shared facilities. Olsen also collaborated with faculty and campus partners to ensure student perspectives shaped classroom accessibility, housing policies, and university services.

Beyond DSU, Olsen served as a teaching assistant for multiple American Sign Language courses and contributed to creative life at UVM through the Songwriter Circle. Their commitment to accessibility extended statewide through presentations on outdoor access and nationally through their current internship in Washington, D.C., focusing on disability policy.

Faculty and peers describe Olsen as a leader who combines integrity, perseverance, and care for others while cultivating spaces where students feel safe, heard, and empowered to advocate for themselves. Their work reflects a deep belief that disability policy must be grounded in lived experience.

Through academic excellence, principled leadership, and an unwavering commitment to inclusion, Olsen exemplifies the values of the Katherine Anne Kelly Award and leaves a lasting legacy with DSU and at UVM.