Outstanding individual and group outreach efforts were recognized April 26 with the 2016 Campus Awards for Excellence in Public Engagement. The awards were presented by Interim Chancellor Barbara J. Wilson and Pradeep K. Khanna, the associate chancellor for corporate and international relations, at the I Hotel and Conference Center.
The awards recognize faculty members, academic professionals and students who have consistently applied their knowledge and expertise to issues of societal importance for the public good.
Each faculty member or academic professional receives $1,500 and a permanent $1,500 salary increase. The team award includes $5,000 to the sponsoring unit to support or enhance the project honored. Students receive $1,500 to be used for professional development or other educational activities.
Those honored:
Annie Abbott, a professor of Spanish and the director of undergraduate studies for the department of Spanish and Portuguese, exemplifies passion and service through her long commitment to immersive Spanish education. She leads by example and encourages her students to engage in service-learning opportunities. Abbott’s innovative work in the local nonprofit and business communities is highly regarded, and she is known for reaching broader audiences through social media and technology.
As far back as 2004, Abbott has been a change-maker. She transformed the department of Spanish and Portuguese by introducing its first community service-learning course, “Spanish in the Community.” In its first semester, students worked with The Refugee Center in Urbana and bolstered their capabilities to serve Latino immigrants in Champaign-Urbana. Within two years, that course grew to 80 students a semester, partnering with a dozen community agencies. In 2006, she created another community service-learning course, focusing on social entrepreneurship and culturally appropriate nonprofit programs, which continues to this day.
As a former student said, “Dr. Abbott has created a network of care for students and community members that extends beyond the university sphere … she challenges student perspectives and empowers immigrant and Latino communities in Champaign County.”
Part of extending the university sphere includes Abbott’s early adoption of social media, which allows her to publicize her own expertise in Spanish education, as well as offer nuanced perspectives on important topics from increasing enrollment in university humanities programs to entrepreneurship in immigrant communities.
She earned her B.A. in psychology from the U. of I. and continued her education with an M.A. and a Ph.D. from the university, both in Spanish.
Abbott works to bridge the university to the community and build a more caring and welcoming world.
The Education Justice Project, led by director Rebecca Ginsburg, is a unit within the department of education policy, organization and leadership in the College of Education that seeks to bring U. of I. and community expertise together in order to build a college-in-prison model, starting at the Danville Correctional Center.
The program started in 2008, when faculty members, graduate students and community members agreed that creating a model of higher education for incarcerated individuals would benefit them as well as the university. The Education Justice Project has been a trailblazer in public engagement, extending knowledge and resources to an underserved population and placing Illinois at the forefront of this movement.
The Education Justice Project offers U. of I. courses for credit to incarcerated individuals, hosts programs to support the families of those individuals and produces a wealth of knowledge – incarcerated students have been co-authors of 24 papers and conference presentations, three literary collections and even a practical guide to composting in prison. Additionally, they have hosted two national conferences on higher education in prison and are developing a national coalition of higher education in prison programs.
The program boasts an enrollment of 210 to date, and 63 alumni with remarkable outcomes. The Education Justice Project’s recidivism rate is 5 percent, compared with 47 percent in the state of Illinois; 79 percent of alumni are employed eight months after their release, compared with a figure of less than half for the United States as a whole.
The Education Justice Project is a vibrant community of incarcerated students, their families, formerly incarcerated individuals, educators and others who are committed to a more just and humane world, achieved through education and critical awareness. EJP is an innovator in education, compassion and social justice.
Team members honored include Hugh Bishop, a visiting lecturer, linguisitics; Andy Borum, a Ph.D. candidate in aerospace engineering; Holly Clingan, the associate director of principal gifts, U. of I. Foundation; Ginsburg, a professor of education policy, organization and leadership; and Adrienne Johnson, a Ph.D. student in education policy, organization and leadership.
Max Colon, an undergraduate student in psychology and Spanish, has long been a campus and community leader in the fight against food insecurity. As the director of Illini Fighting Hunger, Colon is personally dedicated to making a positive and necessary difference in the lives of the Champaign-Urbana community.
Colon came to understand the gravity of food insecurity after participating in a large-scale food-packaging event his first weekend on campus. After that, he joined Illini Fighting Hunger and began making an immediate impact. He has been a versatile and vital component of the group, serving at various times as its equipment manager, webmaster, president and, finally, its director.
Illini Fighting Hunger is a registered student organization. The organization’s reach extends beyond campus and has strong, well-established community ties, largely because of Colon’s leadership. He helped form collaborations and alliances with many community organizations including Wesley Food Pantry and Illinois 4-H. Additionally, his leadership has helped the group achieve impressive milestones, including more than 1.5 million meals packaged and nearly 22,000 service hours for more than 12,000 volunteers.
In addition to his duties as Illini Fighting Hunger’s director, Colon is an exemplary undergraduate student; he has served as a residence hall adviser and programming adviser for University Housing; he has won numerous awards for his scholarship and service. Most recently, Colon spearheaded the 2016 Community and Campus Day of Service on April 9, when more than 1,900 volunteers packaged 149,000 meals.
Colon understands the power that an individual can wield, and he has used his power, ingenuity and passion to directly impact many lives in Champaign-Urbana and beyond.
Katherine Magerko, an M.D.-Ph.D. student, is well-known for her dedication to ensuring the well-being of some of the community’s most vulnerable people. Despite being a busy student, Magerko has been a community health care leader, caring deeply about both health and social justice.
Upon her arrival in the Human and Community Development Program in 2012, Magerko found volunteer opportunities at Avicenna Community Health Center, a free clinic serving Champaign-Urbana’s underinsured and uninsured population. She started at the clinic as a triage volunteer, rose to assistant manager of the clinic in 2014 and eventually became the clinic’s manager. Magerko shows leadership daily and her focus on the community shines at Avicenna.
Magerko’s intelligence, determination, thoughtfulness, creativity and commitment to helping others at Avicenna have earned her the respect of many and appreciation from those who benefit from Avicenna health care. She has helped to coordinate various outreach programs, including partnerships with Daily Bread Soup Kitchen, the Immigrant Health Transitions Initiative, and collaborations with the other free clinics in Champaign-Urbana to create a better network of health care service for the community. She uses her knowledge and people skills to address the clinic’s approach to Ebola and, more recently, the Zika virus. Magerko recruits volunteers and oversees many clinic teams. She was instrumental in finding and hiring the first caseworker at the clinic.
Magerko came to the U. of I. by way of the University of Colorado, Boulder, where she earned a B.A. in psychology and a B.A. and M.S. in integrative physiology. In addition to her considerable responsibilities at Avicenna, she also serves as a research assistant and an assistant to the associate editor for The Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.
Magerko brings her breadth of knowledge and experience to Avicenna every day, ensuring that the diverse and underserved population of Champaign-Urbana receive the help they deserve. Her compassion and commitment exemplifies the meaning of public engagement, and she is to be commended for making a difference in her community.
Lyndsay Shand ,a doctoral student, is an exemplary example of what happens when campus knowledge and expertise crosses into the community. A student leader within the department of statistics, Shand has a passion for statistics and a desire to spark that passion in others. Shand is known as the person who has turned the phrase “I hate statistics” on its ear and is responsible for the resurgence of the organization Statistics in the Community, also known as Stat-Com.
Shand arrived on campus in August 2012 and immediately sought to make an impact. After much research, she decided to lead the charge to re-establish Stat-Com, a pro bono statistical consulting organization comprising undergraduate and graduate students that works with educational institutions, nonprofits and local small businesses to provide robust data solutions and connects the U. of I. to the community.
As its leader, Shand was responsible for recruiting Stat-Com’s first members and establishing its initial client base. Since Stat-Com’s reintroduction, Shand has been the driving force behind its growth and that of its membership, as she also has been an adviser, trainer and mentor within the organization.
Because of Shand’s leadership, Stat-Com has produced quality work and forged lasting partnerships with a variety of agencies and groups including the Urbana Police Department, the Girl Scouts of America, YWCA, Circle of Friends Adult Daycare and Eastern Illinois Foodbank, as well as the Community Learning Lab and various academic units on campus.
“(Stat-Com’s) ingenuity in mining, clarifying and interpreting data related to a poverty assessment of HIV households in Nairobi slums helped fuel a program that provides solar lamps to homes who previously spent 17 percent of their income on hazardous kerosene lights,” said Annette Donnelly, the president of Walking With Angels, a global charitable organization working with vulnerable populations in Africa.
Shand is a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate, coming to the U. of I. after earning her B.A. in Spanish and B.S. in mathematics at Bucknell University. She is diligent, dedicated and determined, and embodies the definition of public engagement by making a difference in her world through statistics.
STUDENT FELLOWS
The Chancellor’s Public Engagement Student Fellows program aims to enable students to develop, implement and evaluate community-based projects in collaboration with external partners with the support of small grants from the Office of Public Engagement.
The program goal is to foster the expansion of public-engagement opportunities available to Illinois students through partnerships with communities, nonprofit agencies, schools and governmental bodies.
The university funds projects that encourage students to become involved in community life by assisting in solving problems or providing a service while utilizing their education and expertise.
The 2016-17 student fellows and their projects:
Empowering Women Through Green Energy Opportunities
Student: Reahman Afshar, chemical engineering
Sponsor: Ying Diao, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering
Chemical engineering and engineering physics sophomore Reahman Afshar is working with Saha Global to empower women in rural communities to solve the need for clean electricity through profitable social enterprises. Saha Global has launched 84 clean-water businesses and 20 solar-electricity businesses, serving more than 40,000 people. Afshar will travel to Ghana with the twofold goal of creating value for developing communities and working against climate change. This grant will cover the startup materials necessary for the founding of community businesses.
Growing Prairies and Growing Minds at Orpheum
Student: Alexander Hazel, entomology
Sponsor: Lawrence Hanks, professor of entomology
The Entomology Graduate Student Association is working with the Orpheum Children’s Science Museum to foster science learning for children in kindergarten through sixth grade. By creating a butterfly garden at the museum, the association will combat the lack of environmental science education, the lack of exposure to nature and misinformation. Funding will be used to purchase plants and necessary construction materials to create a space for self-guided discovery and an appreciation for nature in a playful environment.
CU Make 2016
Student: Joseph Lund, general engineering
Sponsor: Jeff Ginger, visiting project coordinator, Illinois Informatics Institute
CU Make 2016 brings ideas to life and cultivates the “maker” mindset in students and the community, focusing on engineering, design and creativity. CU Make 2016 is a 28-hour-long product-design competition bringing together campus and community to create and solve social problems. This year’s competition centers on designing for the body and will host teams from Uni High School, Urbana Middle School, the Boys and Girls Club, and more. The grant will be used for various tools and equipment for makers to build to their hearts’ desires.
LINC Bioswale
Student: Xiaodan Wang, molecular and cellular biology and psychology
Sponsor: Valeri Werpetinski, co-director, Learning in Community, College of Engineering
Working with the Children’s Outreach and Vocational Education Alliance, this Learning in Community project will tackle soil erosion and stormwater damage in Kapeeka, Uganda. COVE focuses on providing children with social services, education and vocational training to break the cycle of poverty. Unfortunately, COVE’s campus has been damaged by rainfall and soil erosion. The LINC team will use this grant to travel to Kapeeka and implement a bioswale in order to help COVE further its mission of helping children.
Illinois Re-entry Guide
Student: Brooke Ann Garren, School of Social Work
Sponsor: Liliane Windsor, School of Social Work
As a result of changes in sentencing laws, the state of Illinois is facing a large influx of people transitioning from incarceration to society. The Illinois Re-entry Guide was created in 2015 to assist these individuals. Brooke Ann Garren, a junior in the School of Social Work, will work directly with community agencies who are using the current re-entry guide to evaluate its effectiveness. Funding will allow Garren to effectively conduct primary research and build a stronger support system for this underserved and increasing population.
Summer Illinois Math Camp
Student: Melinda Lanius, mathematics
Sponsor: Jeremy Tyson, professor of mathematics
The Summer Illinois Mathematics Camp started in 2015 to introduce high school students to higher-level mathematics, facilitate proficiency and encourage enthusiasm for the subject. This year, the team will expand the camp to middle school students during this weeklong session. The camp will admit 50 total high school and middle school students and will employ undergraduate Merit scholars as teaching assistants. This grant will help to create a vibrant community of mathematics students from middle school to graduate school.
YOUThink Politics
Students: Thomas Dowling, political science and history; Lisa McGovern, history
Sponsor: Kathryn Elizabeth Clark, academic advisor, political science
YOUThink Politics aims to teach young people the skills necessary to be active in the political process and to give them a voice in their local community. To achieve this, 150 high school students will be invited to a nonpartisan and educational political engagement workshop. This workshop will be staffed by university students, including College of Liberal Arts and Sciences sophomore Thomas Dowling and College of Education junior Lisa McGovern, politicians, and campus staff members to teach attendees about local resources and the political process as a whole. Funding will support materials to educate high school students about politics and to encourage a more politically engaged youth.