CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- The Mothers Association's Medallion of Honor will be presented to Capt. Krystal Fitzpatrick of the UI police department at a Moms Day tea scheduled for Saturday (April 8).
The tea will be from 1 to 2:30 p.m. at Campbell Hall, 300 N. Goodwin Ave., Urbana.
Since 1977, the medallion has been given to a woman or man affiliated in some way with the UI.Nominations are solicited from deans, directors and departments on campus.
Fitzpatrick was nominated by Oliver J. Clark, UI chief of police and director of the department of public safety. Letters of support came from C.K. Gunsalus, associate provost; Sgt. Vanessa Horsman of the UI police department; and Viki Hawley, investigator for the UI police department.
According to the selection committee, "Each letter talked about not only Capt. Fitzpatrick's numerous contributions to her field, her great concern for helping people in crisis, and the many programs for campus safety that she has helped to create, but also her caring, her ability to relate to others, her personal warmth and compassion, and her mentoring skills."
In her 19 years with the UIPD, Fitzpatrick has won the department's Merit Award three times, the Outstanding Community Service Award and the Optimist Club's and the CU Jaycee's Officer of the Year awards. Last year she won the Chancellor's Distinguished Staff Award.
The Medallion of Honor award puts her in the company of such past winners as Judith Ikenberry and professors Ollie Watts Davis, May Berenbaum, Benita Katzenellenbogen and Ruth Anne Clark.