2011 John A Lindquist Award Recipient

According to one of her students, Dr. Patricia (Patti) Cost “has found the perfect balance [between] support and mentorship while still allowing students to be independent and make projects their own.”  Working through her Health Program Planning and Evaluation course, Dr. Cost oversees her students as they plan, organize, carry out, and evaluate as many as eight projects a semester with such community partners as St. Anne’s Homeless Shelter, Catholic Community Services, Riverdale City, Hooper City, the Huntsman Cancer Institute, and several public schools.  Students’ projects have included teaching stress intervention, connecting diabetes with oral health, reducing family obesity, conducting health and fitness fairs, and rehabilitating cardiac patients.  Dr. Cost’s goal for her students is not meager.  She expects them to appreciate human diversity and commonality; work through controversy; learn how to problem solve in leadership and membership roles; and develop empathy, ethics, and a sense of social responsibility as they gain experience in health education and prepare themselves to be the best candidates for available jobs.  

“To me, civic engagement means working to make a difference in the civic life of our communities and developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values and motivation to make that difference. It means promoting the quality of life in a community, through both political and non-political processes. I truly believe that as an educator it is my responsibility to help students  become morally and civically responsible individuals so that they can recognize themselves as a member of a larger social fabric and therefore considers social problems to be at least partly his or her own. “  Patti Cost

Learn more about Patti here