Boston-based social activist Bishnu Maya Pariyar has become the first South Asian to be awarded with honorary Doctor of Letters (DLitt) from Pine Manor College, the 102-years-old well known educational institution in Massachusetts of the USA. She is also become the first Nepali woman to be awarded DLitt from an American university.

Bishnu Maya, who graduated from the same college in Social Change and International Development, has been recognized for her undeterred contributions to the upliftment of Dalit women in Nepal. The college honored her for works to women’s empowerment through the Boston-based Empower Dalit Women of Nepal (EDWON) and Nepal-based Association for Dalit Women’s Advancement of Nepal (ADWAN), according to the college.