Utah Campus Compact Recognizes USU Award Recipients

Utah State University President Stan Albrecht and Alexis M. Bucknam, executive director of Utah Campus Compact, presented five Utah Campus Compact Awards Tuesday, April 16. The purpose of the Utah Campus Compact Awards is to recognize the work of outstanding faculty, staff, students and community partners at member institutions who volunteer on a statewide level.

“We have a long tradition of service at Utah State University,” said Albrecht. “Service learning is a huge component of the USU DNA and we are glad to recognize these volunteers.”

Bucknam was especially grateful to present the awards on campus.

“We are excited to honor the recipients in their own community and on their home campus,” said Bucknam.

Sheldon Browning, USU Community Service Coordinator, read a short bio for each award winner that highlighted the work they have done.

“It is important to recognize the work done by the honorees because of the deep and positive impact they have had on so many,” said Browning. “I hope each of the honorees, whose work goes largely unnoticed, feels proud of their contributions to the university and the community.”

This year’s honorees include the following:

Jeremy Nef and Kyle Neidrich are this year’s Civically Engaged Student Award winners.

Nef, student body service vice president at Utah State University, is a volunteer manager who guides 23 volunteer program managers and thousands of student volunteers. Nef has continually demanded innovation by working closely with university staff in the establishment of the USU Campus Service Steering Committee which oversees campus service initiatives and puts community engagement on the forefront of campus priorities.

Neidrich is a consistent, long-term and responsible volunteer in the Val. R. Christensen Service Center and other campus and non-campus organizations. Neidrich’s genuine volunteer spirit is illustrated by his exceeding the required minimum volunteer hours as a Service-Learning Scholar.

Neidrich has also demonstrated the capacity to identify needs and develop programs to meet those needs. He established the officially-recognized celiac awareness and support group at USU known as Aggies Against the Grain. Because of this initiative, individuals on campus — often isolated and overlooked — have been given new and unexpected support resources.

Todd Milovich is this year’s Civically Engaged Staff Member Award winner. Milovich is a highly engaged staff member; coordinating an education outreach program that serves hundreds of USU students and thousands of local elementary students. Milovich created the Uncommon Collective program which, by utilizing USU and local high school student volunteers, provides tutoring to Logan City and Cache County school district students.  He has also created partnerships with Logan City Parks and Recreation, as well as Logan and Cache School Districts, to keep afterschool programs functioning at a high level. Volunteers also organized nine fundraising events that were attended by 1,082 people and raised $3,078 for local charities.

Joyce Kinkead is this year’s Civically Engaged Scholar Award winner. Throughout her tenure at USU, Kinkead has been a practitioner and advocate of community engagement. Kinkead has been a professor with the English department since 1982 and has held several leadership posts, including associate vice president for research. Kinkead continually serves students, both formally and informally, by helping them with their research and finding funding for it. She was recently recognized with a Council on Undergraduate Research Fellows Award for her efforts to promote and advance USU’s undergraduate research program.

Youth Discovery Inc. is this year’s Committed Community Partner Award winner. The program, directed by Carlos Roundy, is a bridge-building organization designed to improve the lives of multicultural youth in Cache Valley. YDI has been instrumental in supporting the creation and expansion of the Utah Conservation Corps’ Bilingual Youth Corps program that engages dozens of local youth every summer in completing vital conservation projects on public lands. YDI has also formed innovative and collaborative partnerships with Logan City School District, Cache County School District, Utah State University, Stokes Nature Center, Latinos in Action, American West Heritage Center and United Way of Cache Valley to ensure multicultural youth can achieve their full potential.

For more information about the Utah Campus Compact Awards, see the organization’s website.

Contact: Alexis M. Bucknam, 801-366-8495, abucknam@utahsbr.edu

Writer: Paige Pagnucco, 435-797-1429, paige.pagnucco@usu.edu