Jenice Meyer, director of the Center for Community Engaged Learning at the University of Wisconsin-Superior, has received the UW System’s Regents Academic Staff Excellence Award.
“I am so proud to serve and deepen the connects between my alma mater and my hometown of Superior,” said Meyer. I love my job, this place, and the ways we are making both the campus and community better, together.”
In her service to the university, Meyer has been involved with developing and overseeing more than 560 partnerships with businesses, non-profits, schools and government. Through partnerships, students were able to apply course learning to achieve goals defined and needed by their partnering organization.
Over the past decade, Meyer has made these opportunities available to students in 26 disciplines across 12 academic departments, resulting in nearly 11,700 hands-on, community-based learning experiences and $4.2 million of donated time to community partners. Students have provided nearly 215,000 hours of service, including helping small businesses with marketing plans, creating websites for nonprofits, and mentoring children in outreach programs.
“When I was first hired, Academic Service-Learning was a teaching approach used by only a handful of instructors,” said Meyer. “Now, over 10 years later, this pedagogy is embedded into the fabric of our campus and, inherently, our community. This has provided 1,000s of students with hands-on learning, building their networks and setting our graduates apart after graduation. I am proud to have played a role in making what was once a concept into a distinguishing feature of our campus.”
Due to Meyer’s leadership, UW-Superior actively contributes to Campus Compact, the national organization promoting student civic engagement, and earned the prestigious national Carnegie Community Engagement Classification, one of only 234 universities in the nation to hold such distinction. Meyer serves on numerous off-campus boards and teams, including the Pathways K-12 Initiative, Northwest Wisconsin Educators for Regional Development (NorthWERD), and the City of Superior economic development team. She presents at state, national and international forums.
“This honor simply would not exist without her trailblazing leadership and effort,” said Chancellor Renee Wachter.
The purpose of the Regents Academic Staff Excellence Awards is to recognize the dedicated work, vital services, and outstanding contributions of the UW System’s non-instructional academic staff.
Two awards of $7,500 each will be made to non-instructional administrative or professional academic staff members in recognition of their exceptional service to the university. The funds for these awards are designated to support professional development or other activities approved by the recipients that enhance a university program or function.
An additional award of $7,500 will be made to a program primarily staffed by non-instructional administrative and professional academic staff in recognition of the important role played by academic staff in supporting students and their success. The funds for this award are designated to support program enhancements such as the staff recipients’ professional development or program-related supplies and expenses, or for other activities approved by the staff recipients that enhance a university program or function.
The awards process is administered by the systemwide Office of Academic and Student Affairs.
