2013 Provost's Awards for Excellence in Public Engagement honor University Recipients

STORRS, CT, November 20, 2013 – Nine members of the UConn community recently received 2013 Provost’s Awards for Excellence in Public Engagement. Given by the Office of Public Engagement, the award recognizes exceptional leadership, innovation and research achieved through efforts to extend and enhance the University's presence in communities throughout and beyond Connecticut.

According to Provost Mun Y. Choi and Director of Engagement Carol Polifroni, the award committee comprised of faculty and staff members received an "impressive number" of nominations from throughout the University. Eligible for the award are students, alumni, faculty and staff whose work has had a proven impact on a specific target audience; led to documented, engaged scholarship; or resulted in a significant extension of University knowledge. Awardees must also have demonstrated intellectual, professional or career growth.

Highlighting the extensive criteria required for this award, Choi and Polifroni offered words of appreciation to the University's Public Engagement Forum and then presented the 2013 Provost’s Awards for Excellence in Public Engagement to the following:

·      Center for International Social Work Studies (CISWS), program, School of Social Work

·      Jennifer Crowley, advanced degree, School of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmacy Practice

·      Timothy Dowding, faculty, School of Business/Operations & Information Management Department

·      Susan Furbish, staff, UCHC/Center for Public Health & Health Policy

·      Richard Kamin, faculty, UCHC/John Dempsey Hospital Emergency Department

·      Nicholas Lownes, early faculty, School of Engineering/Civil and Environmental

Engineering

·      Elizabeth Simonetti, alumni, Dual Degree: School of Pharmacy & CLAS/French

·      Claire Simonich, undergraduate, Political Science

·      UConn Early College Experience, program, Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning/Office of Early College

Choi and Polifroni described the honorees as being “exemplary, dedicated and part of the fabric of our University.”

At the ceremony, posters and displays showcased the wide range of engagement activities, across many disciplines, accomplished by the award winners. As organizers noted, many of UConn's engagement efforts this past year involved projects designed to reach out and provide services to the poor and others in underserved populations.

“There was a large emphasis on internationality and an overall interdisciplinary effort this year,” Polifroni added. “These efforts are a product of engagement, but they broaden the way we think about scholarship, both sustained and expanded.”

Recipients of the 2013 Provost’s Awards for Excellence in Public Engagement each received a plaque commemorating their efforts, as well as a $250 allocation to be used by a specific department, or for financial aid, to further develop and enhance public engagement at UConn.