Action Program of the Year – Cornell University Deaf Awareness Project
Cornell University Deaf Awareness Project (CUDAP) was founded in 2011 when a house fire in Ithaca created an urgent need for an ASL interpreter, but none were available on such short notice. This left the Deaf homeowners struggling to communicate with emergency responders. Though tragic, this was just one of many requests for interpretation that went unanswered, and indicated a lack of resources for Deaf and Hard of Hearing individuals in the community as well as students on Cornell’s campus. To address this need, CUDAP dedicated its mission to bringing American Sign Language (ASL) courses to Cornell. After several years, CUDAP is proud to have finally achieved this goal, as Cornell will offer ASL courses as soon as Fall 2019.
The following are some brief highlights:
- Seeking campus support, a petition of over 1,000 signatures was submitted to university administration in 2015 as evidence of the overwhelming community support for this cause.
- A year later, CUDAP collaborated with the Student Assembly to pass a Resolution, which formally called for the establishment of ASL courses during the academic school year.
- In response to student activism, the faculty of the College of Arts & Sciences at Cornell University voted in Fall 2018 to change their official definition of a language to include signed languages. The Linguistics Department also decided to expand their offerings to include a full American Sign Language course sequence. Together, these changes mean that Cornell students will be able to take ASL to fulfill their foreign language requirement starting in Fall 2019.
- With the establishment of ASL courses at Cornell, not only has one of CUDAP’s main goals been fulfilled, but students will have access to the wealth of knowledge that comes from learning about a new language and its community. By learning ASL, students will have the invaluable opportunity to learn about Deaf culture, join a close-knit community, and be able to spread awareness of issues facing a historically marginalized group alongside CUDAP.
Advocacy Program of the Year – Outdoor Expo at Mount Aloysius College
Mount Aloysius College is located in Cambria County, PA. The county has a declining population with a significant opioid addiction issue. One of the main solutions to bring in economic growth is to embrace the area’s outdoor recreation opportunities, which have gone unnoticed for years. The student mercy scholars at the college planned and led a 400 person outdoor expo on the campus that celebrated and advocated the area’s natural resources, health benefits to outdoor recreation, and community partnerships. This team was proud to announce that this was the first concentrated promotion effort that was supported and celebrated by its county and local government.
Service Program of the Year – Whitman Teaches the Movement
Whitman Teaches the Movement is a student-led, student initiated civil rights education outreach program at Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA. Each year, two student interns lead the program – this year’s being Maddy Gold, Social Justice Coordinator, and Brynn Hines Logistics Coordinator. Since 2011, this program has trained and sent out Whitman students in pairs to K-12 classrooms who opt for the civil rights lessons that range from a kindergarten lesson based on a bell hooks book that showcases empathy and identity — to a high school lesson on MLK’s Letter from Birmingham text.
This year, 80 Whitman volunteers have signed up for teaching between Jan 22-Feb 1 and will impact close to 1,200 K-12 students with critical thinking and engagement around diversity, equity, inclusion, ally-ship, immigration activism, and culminates in a community art show titled “Community and Amplifying Voices” to be held at the Walla Walla Public Library on Feb. 16, 2019.
Earlier this semester, WTTM hosted a film screening of 13th as well as a panel discussion with Whitman professors and staff, local pastors and a recent Central American immigrant who attends Walla Walla Community College. They discussed local immigration activism and how it correlates to the historical civil rights and post-modern civil rights movement we are in today. The quality, consistency and impact of this program is something that the College is very proud of and so are we.
Student of the Year Makayla Mowel
Makayla is currently a senior at Eastern Connecticut State University and she has served all 4 years with the Jumpstart program. In fact, she has reached the limit of AmeriCorps terms one member can serve, as she served DOUBLE the amount of terms last year that most students do–serving 600 hours rather than 300. For the past 3 years, she has served as a team leader, going above and beyond to grow and develop her members. She spends countless hours putting together resources and facilitating meetings with them because as she says, “These children deserve nothing but our best every single day.”
Her colleagues describe never having worked alongside someone with such a strong passion to serve children. She has set up book drives at preschools in wealthier areas to gather more books for the classroom she serves in. For her birthday, instead of gifts, she set up a Facebook fundraiser where people could donate to Jumpstart. She has even served as a program assistant for free this past year, just because she loves the program so much. Makayla hopes to be a Site Manager for Jumpstart once she graduates. Makayla is truly a special student who deserves this recognition.
John Sarvey Administrator of the Year Award – Dr. Christine E. Moran and Laura Megivern
Dr. Christine E. Moran
Dr. Christine E. Moran received several nominations. Below is just one of those received, which expresses her service:
“It is an honor to recommend Doctor Christine Moran for the John Sarvey Administrator of the Year Award from the National IMPACT Conference. Dr. Moran is the Assistant Vice President of Student Success at Stevenson University. I first met Dr. Moran through a Faculty in the Halls event in 2015, where Dr. Moran and two other faculty members would organize community events for the upper-class residents of Stevenson University. In 2017, Dr. Moran introduced me to the Newman Civic Fellows Program where I was able to take advantage of an internship opportunity in Washington, D.C. During my Newman Civic Fellowship experience, I was shown the full range of Dr. Moran’s ability to be an effective and supportive mentor. The personality attributes that Dr. Moran displayed perfectly exemplify the message behind the John Sarvey Administrator Award.
Dr. Moran’s strongest attributes are her empathy and enthusiasm for both academics and community service. To Dr. Moran, service learning is not just another mundane task in a job description; Service learning is part of her personal goal of bettering the lives of students. Dr. Moran recognizes that for students to experience genuine growth and connection, they need to practice relationship building through social action.
Throughout my year of being a Newman Civic Fellow, Dr. Moran and I would have regular meetings to check in about my service activities. During these meetings, I could ask for advice about how to stay on path, life experience, and any support I could think of that either Dr. Moran or Stevenson University could provide. If I felt nervous about an upcoming speaking engagement or community service event I was organizing, Dr. Moran would know how to both calm the anxiety and boost my confidence in preparation for the event. To this day, I know I can still go to Dr. Moran for any advice, even after I graduated from Stevenson University. Dr. Moran’s support allows Stevenson University to feel more like a warm community than a cold campus.
Dr. Moran would be a fantastic recipient for the John Sarvey Administrator of the Year Award from the National IMPACT Conference. With an unending supply of energy aimed towards teaching students about service learning, Dr. Moran has shown time and time again that she is willing to go the extra mile for her community. I was fortunate enough to benefit from Dr. Moran’s guidance, and I can say with absolute certainty that her support changed my life for the better. If it were not for the opportunities Dr. Moran afforded me, I would not be on the track I am today to earn my master’s degree in Washington D.C. It is a privilege to recommend Dr. Christine Moran for this prestigious award.
Laura Megivern
Since 2006, Laura Megivern has been a campus professional and IMPACT servant leader, including board chair, and has influenced and shaped the lives of servant leaders and young activists. Laura has been on the progressive edge of training, leadership development, and inspiring students related to issues of advocacy across causes and genres more broadly than many people we ever come in contact with professionally. Laura brings the heart of a servant into all of her work, whether with students, or with colleagues. Her time as IMPACT board member and chair is characterized by deep empathy for others and by quiet and consistent progress during a time when IMPACT became very financially stable. Laura has that deep understanding that all significant leaders have, which is that it is not about her, but rather those around her and those she has impacted with her gentle, yet direct insistence upon fairness, equality, and a true sense of humanity. She has modeled a restraint from recognition and selfish appetites, and she has instead displayed an adherence to self-denial and a commitment to develop character and competence. Laura has led earnestly and followed adeptly when she knew it was most reinforcing for all involved, exhibiting that undeniable depth of character. In keeping with the legacy and character of our friend John Sarvey, Laura’s leadership and service to others is at the same time both bold, spirited and forward moving, while also being thoughtful, equitably minded and carefully supportive of all those she effects. Laura’s leadership and service is emblematic of our colleague and this award’s namesake, John Sarvey.