UCC recognizes CEU faculty, staff, students, community
The purpose of the Utah Campus Compact Statewide Recognition Event is to recognize the work of outstanding faculty, staff, students and community partners at member higher-education institutions on a statewide level.
All 13 colleges in Utah are members of the UCC. Each institution is encouraged to submit one award recipient from each of four categories: the committed community partner, civically engaged scholar, civically engaged staff member and civically engaged student.
Kate Alleman
This archived article was written by: Caitlin Wright
The purpose of the Utah Campus Compact Statewide Recognition Event is to recognize the work of outstanding faculty, staff, students and community partners at member higher-education institutions on a statewide level.
All 13 colleges in Utah are members of the UCC. Each institution is encouraged to submit one award recipient from each of four categories: the committed community partner, civically engaged scholar, civically engaged staff member and civically engaged student.
Kate Alleman
The College of Eastern Utah SUN Center chose as the committed community partner Kate Alleman, who serves as the executive director of the United Way of Southeastern Utah. This award recognizes the individual and organization who strengthens community involvement at our institution, provides meaningful service and learning opportunities for students, and enhances their agency’s mission/programs/goals by partnering with your institution.
SUN Center Director, Kathy Murray said, “Kate has been an excellent community partner. She has been instrumental in joining with the college students in many projects. One of the projects is Angel Tree, which is a big job and joy for Kate.
“She bears the larger burden to provide names of the needy for CEU’s Angel tree and the other Angel Trees in the community and Emery County. For the past three years, Kate and the United Way provided funding through a grant process to pay for the materials used for CEU’s Break Away Project to the Navajo Reservation. Kate has joined in on the project and traveled to the site with food and energy. Many improvements have been made to help improve the conditions of elderly and disabled Navajos through her help.
Steven Nelson
The civically engaged scholar recognizes an individual with experience in using service-learning as a successful pedagogy, innovation in employing reflective strategies to connect students service with academics as well as evidence of academic civic engagement through teaching, community-based research, or promotion of service-learning on campus or in one’s discipline. Steven Nelson was chosen for this award.
Nelson said, “This is the only life any of us have, and the natural world is clearly indifferent to human suffering. We all, therefore, have an urgent obligation to watch out for each other and care for each other. I believe we should all try to cultivate and enhance whatever innate tendencies we have to be compassionate and altruistic.
” The simplest and most effective way to do this is to focus on the needs of others. Also, making a habit of serving in the community increases our chances of receiving reciprocal kindness during our own times of need.”
Becky Archibald
Becky Archibald was chosen as the civically engaged staff member. This award recognizes a staff member who shows leadership in advancing community engagement as a critical component within their higher education institution, forms innovative campus and community partnership and engages, models, or influences students to be involved in community service and/or service-learning.
“Becky is a strength to everyone she meets. She tries to take a look at things from every angle and be fair with all. She is always willing to offer words of encouragement to the students every day.
“As Bread ‘n Soup Night approaches each year, she is willing to do all she can to help. She prepared all the food for the SWAC Tournament.
“In the 11 years that she has been employed with the dining services at CEU, she loves coming to work and seeing the students. Friends will ask her husband, Tony, how many children they have and he says we have eight, plus 350 at CEU,” Murray said.
Ryan Ware
Ryan Ware was chosen to represent CEU in the area of civically engaged student. This award recognizes a student who demonstrates commitment to building enhancing campus-based efforts to address community needs, leads, inspires, and engages other students, members of the institution, or community and demonstrates efforts to sustain their work through developing strategies for institutional and community commitment.
Ware says, “I started my project on the realization that the College of Eastern Utah was far from the greenest campus in the state. I was on a mission to change that. I had no leadership training and I lacked the confidence to tackle such a project.
“I applied to be a SUN Center leader before the spring semester was over. I received a call late that summer from Murray. She offered me a position as a student leader at the SUN Center. The position, and training associated with it, gave me the confidence I needed to accomplish this goal.
These are some outstanding people who have great accomplishments, goals and ideals. As time goes on and people come and go at CEU, may we all have the courage to dream and to work for our dreams. May we all strive to be better people and help those around us be better people, a SUN Center philosophy.
