Three University of Colorado Boulder faculty and staff will receive regional 2014 Engagement Awards recognizing their positive impacts in local communities through engaged teaching, research, service, and learning.
On May 1, Campus Compact of the Mountain West will recognize CU-Boulder’s Veronica House, Peter Simons, and Rob Pyatt and other recipients of these first-ever Engagement Awards during the organization’s 20th Anniversary Celebration held at the University of Denver.
Campus Compact of the Mountain West will honor the outstanding contributions of the following awardees, selected through a competitive, peer-review process, and from entries across three Mountain West states:
Engaged Scholarship Award: Veronica House, Instructor, Program for Writing and Rhetoric
The Engaged Scholarship Award recognizes a faculty member whose scholarship illustrates clear goals for academic and community change, adequate preparation in the content area and in the community, methodological rigor, significant impact in the field and in the community, reflective critique, and ethical behavior.
As associate director of service learning, House’s efforts are helping position the CU-Boulder Program for Writing and Rhetoric into a national model for civically engaged writing programs.
Engaged Staff Award: Peter Simons, Director of the Institute for Ethical & Civic Engagement
The Engaged Staff Award recognizes a staff member who has personally advanced the meaningful integration of community engagement into campus culture, who actively fosters reciprocal campus and community partnerships, and whose community and campus leadership provides a model for students and peers alike.
Simons is the founding director of the Institute for Ethical and Civic Engagement, and he developed innovative initiatives that built bridges between departments and colleges across the CU-Boulder campus and encouraged new organizational models for student engagement.
Scholarship in Action Award: Rob Pyatt, Senior Instructor of Environmental Design
The Scholarship in Action Award recognizes a faculty member whose employment of service learning pedagogy concretely impacts students’ comprehension of course material, enhances students’ awareness and understanding of current social issues, and addresses a pressing, community-identified need or challenge.
Pyatt leads the Native American Sustainable Housing Initiative, an interdisciplinary collaboration of faculty, students, and volunteers seeking to improve housing conditions on tribal lands through research, education, and outreach activities. The initiative established an ongoing academic service-learning program and community-based design/build experience as part of Environmental Design Program curriculum.
Additionally, Metropolitan State University of Denver will receive the Engaged Campus Award, recognizing colleges and universities that meaningfully integrate community engagement, and Jennifer Paz from the University of Denver will receive the Excellence in AmeriCorps Service Award.
Campus Compact of the Mountain West is a membership organization of 21 college and university presidents and chancellors across Colorado and Wyoming who are passionately committed to the value engaged teaching, research, service, and learning bring to students, institutions, and communities. The organization asserts that community engagement is a powerful tool to prepare students to be active and informed community leaders and to effectively address pressing local and global challenges. Learn more about Campus Compact of the Mountain West at www.ccmountainwest.org.