Students Carolina Center for Public Service honors individuals and organizations for service to state
| Carolina Center for Public Service honors individuals and organizations for service to state |
|
| Friday, April 17, 2009 | |||||||||
|
Providing legal aid to low-income families, mentoring high-potential Latino high school students, building partnerships between the University and local African-American communities and offering free dental care and raising awareness about breast cancer in North Carolina counties are a few of the public service efforts led by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill faculty, staff, students and organizations this year. The Carolina Center for Public Service and the Office of Vice Chancellor for Public Service and Engagement recognized those and other initiatives at their annual service awards ceremony today. Eight individuals and student organizations were honored at a 1:30 p.m. reception at the Carolina Club on campus. “The breadth and depth of Carolina’s commitment to communities across the state is amazing,” said Lynn Blanchard, the center’s director. “These award winners exemplify the true spirit of public service in their inspiring efforts to make North Carolina an even better place to live.”
Richard Rosen, J.D., professor of law in the School of Law, is the recipient of the seventh annual Ned Brooks Award for Public Service. Rosen, the 2006-2007 Pro Bono Faculty Member of the Year and founder of the UNC Innocence Project, was recognized for his promotion of justice and the preparation of the next generation of lawyers for conscientious and zealous advocacy within the judicial system, especially through his advocacy of the law school clinical experience, which gives students practice experience while at the same time serving a real need for legal representation by low-income families. The Carolina Center for Public Service also presented two Office of the Provost Public Service Awards honoring campus units for service to North Carolina. This year’s recipients are the Scholars’ Latino Initiative and United with the Northside Community Now (UNC-NOW). Scholars’ Latino Initiative was recognized as a comprehensive mentoring program that helps promising Latino high school students achieve their dream of higher education. The organization forges long-term relationships between Latino high school students and UNC undergraduates. Currently, program participants include 50 North Carolina Latino high school students and 50 UNC undergraduate mentors, who participate in college-prep workshops, cultural enrichment activities and sustained public service activities. UNC-NOW was honored for its efforts to build partnerships between the university and local communities. These partnerships are primarily focused in Northside, the largest and oldest historically African-American neighborhood in Chapel Hill and Carrboro. UNC-NOW evolved from work that began with students from Della Pollock’s APPLES course on performance and oral history offered in partnership with St. Joseph’s Christian Methodist Episcopal Church.
Belhorn, a senior majoring in political science in the College of Arts and Sciences, was honored for his longstanding commitment to the Inter-Faith Council for Social Service. Belhorn began his work with the IFC as a volunteer for Project Rush Hour, a program for working adults who are in need of food, prescription assistance and other vital resources. As a first-year student at UNC, Belhorn furthered his involvement by becoming the data-entry coordinator, a duty he still performs. During his sophomore year, Belhorn became the Project Rush Hour coordinator and was elected as the student representative on the IFC board of directors. Gelesko, a third-year student in the School of Dentistry, was honored for her role as project manager for the first N.C. Missions of Mercy clinic sponsored by the School of Dentistry and ENNEAD, the school’s primary student volunteer organization. Missions of Mercy (MOM) is a portable, free dental program, a branch of the Open Door Dental Clinic of Alamance County that provides dental treatment in communities throughout the state for those who could not otherwise afford care. Orthner, Ph.D., professor in the School of Social Work, has devoted the last 10 years to building extensive partnerships between the university and numerous community support services and schools through CareerStart, an educational intervention with middle school students across the state that he has directed and is longitudinally evaluating. Ritchie, associate professor in the School of Education and senior scientist at FPG Child Development Institute, was recognized for her work with FirstSchool, a long-term, systems-based process focused on state, district, school and classroom policies and practices for vulnerable young children in pre-kindergarten through third grade. Amos, M.D., assistant professor in the department of surgery in the School of Medicine and a member of Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, was honored for his work with “Breaking Free!” This program reaches out to the public to address concerns and build awareness about breast cancer in the area of Edgecombe and Nash counties. The Carolina Center for Public Service leads the University’s engagement efforts and service to the state of North Carolina and beyond by linking the expertise and energy of faculty, staff and students to the needs of the people. Carolina Center for Public Service contact: Lynn Blanchard, (919) 843-7568, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it News Services contact: Susan Houston, (919) 962-8415, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it |
|||||||||
