The Office for Outreach and Engagement is pleased to announce Peg Posnick, outreach coordinator for the Department of Theatre and Dance, has been selected as the recipient of the inaugural Anne K. Heinz Staff Award for Excellence in Outreach & Engagement. In addition, Amanda Giguere, outreach director for the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, and Elaina Verveer, director for Public Achievement, have been selected for special recognition awards.
The awards were presented at the annual Outreach Awards Luncheon on Wednesday, April 15, and they honor staff members who have demonstrated outstanding professional commitments to success with community outreach and engagement initiatives. In addition to public recognition, Posnick will receive $5,000 to support theatre and dance outreach program needs as identified by her, and Giguere and Verveer will be awarded $1,000 to be applied towards their outreach programs.
Peg Posnick, the Anne K. Heinz Staff Award for Excellence in Outreach & Engagement
As an artist, dancer, and teacher, Posnick’s skills are in step with the department’s broad outreach and engagement initiatives. Posnick was hired more than 10 years ago and was tasked with booking the department’s existing dance outreach activities: CU Moving Company, CU Contemporary Danceworks, and High School Day. Since then, she has helped the department surpass its goals, grow its matrix of theatre and dance outreach activities, and advance arts education, according to her nominators Bruce Bergner, associate professor of theatre, and Michelle Ellsworth, associate professor of dance.
Theatre and dance programming includes two substantial school tours, external teaching programs, multi-cultural and socially conscious presentations, workshops in applied performance, student attendance and participation at service-centered conferences and events, and other projects.
“All of these enterprises rely on Peg’s unique passion, communication skill, curiosity, investigation, and follow-through,” said Bergner and Ellsworth in their nomination letter. “In the eyes of her theatre and dance colleagues, Peg is the central spirit of outreach.”
Posnick works closely with department faculty who are eager to expose the connective and empowering properties of live theatre performance, give “voice” to under-represented groups, or advance the accessibility of dance for community members of all ages.
“Peg is not only the booker of these programs, but an advisor and sage counselor, stemming from her own research into the desires and needs of community and K-12 educational groups,” Bergner and Ellsworth said.
Posnick handles multiple program’s logistics and has established an extensive network of community and school contacts who rely on her as well.
“Peg has been wonderful to work with on these outreach projects,” said Ina Rodriguez-Myer, University Hill Elementary School principal. “Coordinating these types of events are not always easy for schools, however with Peg at the helm, the events have always been a pleasure and positive experience.”
Amanda Giguere, Special Recognition Award
As the director of outreach for the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, Giguere oversees all outreach and education programs at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, including a school touring program, summer camps, year-round classes, lecture series, the Will Power Festival, and the graduate dramaturgy program reaching a combined audience of approximately 16,000 people annually.
“The Colorado Shakespeare Festival’s education and outreach department has seen extraordinary growth since 2011 when Amanda Giguere became its director,” said Timothy Orr, Colorado Shakespeare Festival producing artistic director. “She is a perfect example of how a staff member can take initiative and invent creative ways of bringing the university’s work out to the world.”
Elaina Verveer, Special Recognition Award
Verveer is the director for Public Achievement, an international civic engagement initiative that promotes active citizenship, K-12 student retention, academic excellence, and access to post-secondary education through year-long, service-learning programs. Under Verveer’s guidance, CU-Boulder undergraduates serve as Public Achievement “coaches” who work with underserved K-12 students in Lafayette to envision, design, and implement a public work projects that address social issues.
“Elaina’s partnership with the community of Lafayette is invaluable,” said Christine Berg and Gustavo Reyna, Lafayette mayor and mayor pro-tem, respectively, in their support letter. “She inspires, challenges, and engages our young leaders with passion and she models the way for students and participants to aspire to better things, envision a better community, and feel empowered to create a better world.”
About the Awards
The awards are administered by the Office for Outreach and Engagement and the recipients were selected by a non-partisan committee, including Linda Molner Kelley, director for outreach and engagement, Armando Pares, assistant dean of Continuing Education, and Cathy Comstock, faculty director for the Farrand Residential Academic Program.
According to Molner Kelley, the committee’s work was challenging. All of the staff members nominated have excelled in their positions making it an extremely tight selection process.
“We are thrilled to provide this opportunity to recognize Peg, Elaina, and Amanda as well as the other nominees,” said Anne Heinz, Vice Provost for Outreach & Engagement. "This new recognition underscores the valuable role our staff play in outreach and engagement initiatives and the mission of a comprehensive, public research university.”
The Anne K. Heinz Staff Award for Excellence in Outreach & Engagement was named for Heinz, who retires June 2015, in recognition of more than 25 years of support to faculty and staff and her legacy of leadership in outreach and engagement efforts at CU-Boulder.
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