At the 2020 Martin Luther King, Jr. reception on campus in January, three people – one community member, one Missouri Western employee and one student – were honored with the Drum Major for Justice Awards.
The community member recipient was Rich Nolf, who served as director of the St. Joseph Museums for over 30 years; the employee recipient was Dr. Jennifer Jackson, who is a faculty member in the Department of Communication and Journalism and the student recipient was Leo Grantham, who is an advocate for many social justice issues. Spoken word artist Kyla Lacey was the special guest speaker.