SU receives Spirit of Caring Award from United Way of Central New York and wraps up 2005 campaign

Tuesday, January 31, 2006, By News Staff

SU receives Spirit of Caring Award from United Way of Central New York and wraps up 2005 campaignJanuary 31, 2006Jaime Winne Alvarez jlwinne@syr.edu

Syracuse University was presented with one of United Way of Central New York’s highest honors during the organization’s annual Community Achievement Celebration Jan. 26 at the Convention Center at OnCenter. The University received the Spirit of Caring Professional Service Award, which recognizes the ways in which companies and organizations share their expertise and professional services with the community.

Pamela Heintz, director of the Mary Ann Shaw Center for Public and Community Service (CPCS); William Coplin, professor and chair of the Department of Public Affairs in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs; and Elizabeth Kamell, assistant professor of architecture in the School of Architecture and advisor of the school’s Community Design Center (CDC); accepted the honor on behalf of SU. The trio represents the multiple aspects of the University’s community engagement commitment: community-based service learning, specific programs and initiatives like the CDC, and the all-campus aspect of CPCS.

United Way of Central New York’s Spirit of Caring Awards recognize that philanthropy takes many forms and celebrate the outstanding achievements of the United Way’s corporate customers, their unions and employees. The University was recognized for the ways in which its expertise and services are shared with the local community, most notably through partnerships with local schools and not-for-profit agencies that allow faculty, staff and students to share their knowledge and skills with people who can put them to good use. Some examples of this include:

  • Syracuse University Literacy Corps (SULC), facilitated by the CPCS and now in its eighth year, a service learning experience that mobilizes SU students to tutor at elementary and secondary schools in the Syracuse City and Lafayette Central School Districts and community-based organizations;
  • Service learning, also administered through CPCS, which enhances academic goals by providing SU students with community placements for course service components that closely fit the needs of both students and the community;
  • Friends of Franklin, a collaborative effort for the Franklin Magnet School of the Arts in which SU and Franklin students work to put on the annual Showcase of the Arts benefit to raise funds for the Franklin School;
  • Community Design Center in the School of Architecture, in which students collaborate on projects outside the traditional academic environment to promote, research and assist in architectural and urban design for community-related initiatives.
  • Holiday Sharing Program, a collaboration between SU and the local community in which approximately 60 needy families are identified each year by local schools/service agencies and matched with SU faculty, staff and students in over 60 units across campus who collect food and gifts for their assigned family. Several days before Christmas, a team picks up and delivers the food and gifts to the schools/agencies. In 2005, approximately 350 people from the University community provided items for 90 adults and 211 children.

SU’s 2005 United Way campaign, chaired by Dean Raymond von Dran of the School of Information Studies, raised more than $193,000 for the United Way of Central New York and featured a wide variety of activities across campus designed to generate enthusiasm for, and raise awareness of, the United Way’s charitable efforts.

The annual campaign finale, an opportunity for the campaign chair and members of the United Way of Central New York to thank faculty and staff involved in the SU campaign network, took place Jan. 30 at the Inn Complete. The theme for this year’s finale was the 2006 Olympic Games.

Mary Jane Nathan and Susan Germain from SU’s Office of Special Events presented awards to members of the University’s campaign network, highlighting their outstanding contributions and dedication. Gold, silver and bronze medals were handed out in two awards categories: campaign events and new campaign events. A special “Torch Lighting Award” was presented to Todd Wyant, director of student support and advising in the athletics department, for his work on the campaign kick-off, Dollar Day at the Dome.

In the campaign events category, the gold medal went to Gisela von Dran and Denise Dowdall for the IST auction and bake sale; the silver medal to Erica Blust, Michelle Buza, Lisa Ryan and Vicki Smith for VPA’s Internet silent auction and bake sales; and the bronze medal to Karen Christensen, Donna Fecteau, Dorry Kelley, and Cathy Thau for the Women’s Building used book sale and bake sale.

In the new campaign events category, the gold medal was awarded to Doreen Lividas for the Hawkins Building notepad sale; the silver medal to Blust, Buza, Ryan and Smith for VPA’s Internet silent auction; and the bronze medal to Christensen, Fecteau, Kelley and Thau for the Women’s Building used book sale.