UNI faculty to be recognized for community engagement

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -- The 2007 recipients of the Veridian Credit Union Community Engagement Awards use community engagement to make their professional lives a little more personal.

In February 2006, Veridian Credit Union partnered with the University of Northern Iowa to annually recognize the outstanding contributions of UNI faculty members to community engagement in the state. The awards honor one full-time tenure-track or tenured faculty member from each of UNI's five undergraduate colleges who combines his or her instructional and scholarly efforts with projects that benefit the greater community.

Each recipient receives an award and a check for $1,000 payable to a nonprofit organization with which he or she is engaged. If the faculty member is involved with a business or more than one organization, funding is awarded to an approved organization of the faculty member's choice.

"The Community Engagement Awards were born out of the work of the Making Place Matter project," said Jean Trainor, CEO and president of Veridian Credit Union. "Our vision was to encourage the university to be engaged in the community, and vice versa, to make the Cedar Valley a better place to live. The individuals who have received these awards are fulfilling that vision."

The 2007 Veridian Credit Union Community Engagement Award recipients are:

Arthur Cox, associate professor and acting head of the Department of Finance in the College of Business Administration and director of UNI Real Estate Education Program.

Cox works with organizations and associations locally and across the state. He has done research and written reports for Homeland, Inc., a nonprofit housing association in Allison. He has served on the Waterloo Rotary Club board of directors and is the club's current president-elect. He spent 10 years on the finance committee of the Cedar Valley United Way. He also has worked with the Greater Cedar Valley Alliance, the Iowa Chapter of Certified Commercial Investment Members, the Mid-Continent Chapter of the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors, the Iowa Chapter of the Appraisal Institute and the Iowa Commercial Real Estate Association.

Cox will donate the monetary award to the Waterloo Rotary Reserve project.

Kathleen Scholl, assistant professor of health, physical education & leisure services in the College of Education.

Scholl has been an integral part of the sustainability and vitality of Together We Play (TWP) at the Family YMCA of Black Hawk County. TWP supports inclusion and support services that build relationships between families with children with disabilities and agencies that provide recreation and after-school programs. Inclusion services find programs for children and youth, modify activities to meet individual needs and provide companions to help children when necessary. Scholl has developed and implemented annual evaluations for inclusion programs, enhanced the program's ability to maintain current funding and gain additional funds, and written and published articles about TWP. Scholl serves on the boards of the Friends of Hartman Reserve Nature Center, Cedar Valley Resource, Conservation and Development and is assistant commissioner for the Black Hawk County Soil and Water Conservation District.

Scholl will donate the monetary award to the Family YMCA of Black Hawk County's TWP program.

Gayle Pohl, associate professor of communication studies in the College of Humanities and Fine Arts.

Pohl uses her public relations expertise to give back to the community and gets her classroom in on the experience as well. Students in Pohl's classes and in UNI's Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) and PRide (Public Relations Interns Develop Expertise) get hands-on experience and portfolio materials while nonprofit organizations receive information and plans they can use. Pohl has assisted more than 35 different organizations since coming to UNI in 1993, including fundraising for nonprofit organizations.

Pohl will donate the monetary award to PRSSA.

Mark Fienup, associate professor of computer science in the College of Natural Sciences.

For the last three years, Cedar Falls High School's robotics team has benefited from Fienup's time. Fienup has mentored the team, writing computer programs, teaching programming to students and working with students to develop programs.

Fienup will donate the monetary award to Cedar Falls High School.

Mark Grey, professor of sociology, anthropology and criminology in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences.

Grey has defined his academic career by his passion and commitment to community service. In 1999, he founded the Iowa Center on Immigrant Leadership and Integration at UNI. Since its founding, ICILI has worked with more than 12,000 Latino immigrants, Bosnians, East Africans, Hassidic Jews, Eastern Europeans and Southeast Asians, as well as with professionals and community residents around the state. Grey is one of the country's leading experts on migration and diversity in rural states.

Grey will donate the monetary award to United Community Health Center.

"Our students receive real-world experience when faculty incorporate their research and classroom curriculum into community organizations," said UNI President Benjamin J. Allen. "I am impressed with the magnitude and breadth of projects our faculty are engaged in, and their commitment to share their knowledge with organizations is priceless. We are grateful to Veridian Credit Union's acknowledgement of our outstanding faculty and their efforts."

The 2007 Veridian Credit Union Community Engagement Award Winners will be honored at the third-annual UNI American Humanics Nonprofit Awards Luncheon at noon on Friday, April 13, in the UNI Commons Ballroom.

Veridian Credit Union, founded in 1934 in Waterloo, is a not-for-profit financial cooperative owned by its members. The credit union offers a full range of consumer financial services and employs more than 425 Iowans at 20 branches, including 12 in the Cedar Valley. For more information, visit www.veridiancu.org or call (800) 235-3228.