History alumna Deirdre Hand was honored at the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences’ first Alumni Awards ceremony in April 2025. 

During the event, the college recognized alumni from each department. Deirdre, who earned her bachelor’s degree in history in 2008, was selected as the Department of History’s Distinguished Alumna. The Distinguished Alumni Award recognizes alumni who bring distinction to Virginia Tech through extraordinary achievements in their fields of discipline and have demonstrated records of distinguished service. 

Nominated by professor Brett Shadle, Deirdre has been volunteering with refugees since she was an undergraduate student. She went on to teach English overseas in the Czech Republic, Indonesia, Ireland, Guatemala, and Rwanda. While in Rwanda, Deirdre met Mary Maker, Dudi Miabok, and Diing Manyang, three young students who had grown up in the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya. As their teacher, she helped them apply to universities in the United States; all three were accepted.

Years later in 2021, Deirdre and those same students created Elimisha Kakuma (EK) together, a college-access and college-prep program in the refugee camp in Kenya. Shadle shared in his nomination letter that despite time and financial limitations, not to mention being on the other side of the world, “they shared an unshakeable belief that everyone has a right to higher education.” Since then, 33 students from the Kakuma refugee camp have been enrolled at 21 different colleges in 6 countries.

“Deirdre has put her heart and soul into Elimisha Kakuma on an entirely volunteer basis. Her passion for helping to open doors for the incredible EK students is astounding,” said Shadle.

When Shadle co-founded the Center for Refugee, Migrant, and Displacement Studies (CRMDS) at Virginia Tech with Katy Powell and Rebecca Hester, he and Deirdre quickly realized that CRMDS and Elimisha Kakuma could be partners. “From the summer of 2021 through the end of 2022, we worked together to recruit and train several Virginia Tech undergraduates to serve as mentors and tutors to the EK students, launching several of them into new career paths,” said Shadle.  

Since 2023, Deirdre has worked as a Community Engagement Specialist with CRMDS, as well as the Center for Rural Education. The numerous projects she is involved with have shaped the lives of numerous Virginia Tech students and K-12 students in southwest Virginia, as well as the lives of the Elimisha Kakuma students.

You can read more about Deirdre and Elimisha Kakuma here.