Lindquist Award Recipients

Dr. Carla Trentelman

Carla prioritizes engaging students in the learning process through community engaged learning, undergraduate research and sustainability projects. She loves the Great Salt Lake and works tirelessly to try and save it. She is both a community-engaged practitioner and scholar with an extensive body of work that started as a student in 1979, at Weber State College when she served as a Vista Volunteer. Later, when Carla returned to academia as a Weber State adjunct professor in 2005, she employed community-based research pedagogy in a research methods class for the first time.

In 2006, the university formally institutionalized support for faculty like Carla, who were utilizing community-engaged pedagogies with the establishment of the Community Involvement Center (CIC). Carla says, “It feels like the CIC and I kind of grew up together here.” Indeed they did. Professionally, Carla moved to a tenure track position and the CIC became the Center for Community Engaged Learning.

Carla has taught over 55 classes using community engaged learning and three courses using community-based research over the course of her career at Weber State. She has worked with numerous community organizations and has developed especially close relationships with Catholic Community Services, Weber Housing Authority and Ogden School District. She has used her expertise to help solve challenges facing the Ogden School District, served as a faculty researcher for the Ogden United Promise Neighborhoods project at United Way of Northern Utah, chaired the post-secondary committee of the Ogden Civic Action Network and conducted research on water conversation at Weber State that resulted in the creation of the Water Conservation Coordinator position. Since 2015, Carla continues to serve regularly in the food pantry of Catholic Community Services.

Carla’s innovative teaching, research, and servant leadership have significantly impacted the lives of students, faculty and staff, the Weber State campus and our community.

Dr. James Zagrodnik

Zagrodnik has been part of Weber State’s physical education faculty since 2011. In 2013, he co-founded Children’s Adaptive Physical Education Society!, better known as CAPES!, which pairs children with developmental disabilities with WSU students studying education. The pairings last ten weeks each fall and spring semester, allowing students to teach critical skills in a safe and fun environment. 

Since its launch, CAPES! has delivered on its goal to increase the independence of each child in the program and enhance WSU students’ knowledge and application of various teaching and learning theories for individuals with disabilities. So far, over 800 students have accumulated more than 18,000 hours of one-on-one interaction with local children and their families. 

“Dr. Zagrodnik exemplifies dynamic community engagement, bringing together students, children with disabilities, and their families through the CAPES! program,” said Kristin Hadley, Dean of the Jerry & Vickie Moyes College of Education. She added that students change their major to teaching or special education each semester because of their experience in CAPES!. Kaitlyn Standifird, a WSU student involved in CAPES!, said Zagrodnik has significantly impacted her life: “He makes you want to be a better student, teacher, and most importantly, person,” she said. 

Aside from CAPES!, Zagrodnik created and ran a summer camp for Ogden’s at-risk youth. He also co-created a podcast, Wildcat Conversations: Racism, where he interviews faculty, staff, students and community members on racial issues. He also works with community groups, such as Youth Impact and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, helping students develop after-school programs for gifted students.

He also became a Certified Adaptive Physical Educator and has presented his methods at national conferences on teaching pre-service teachers how to work with individuals with disabilities. His scholarly work focuses on the impact of CCEL-based pedagogies on pre-service teachers among individuals with disabilities, and he’s presented these methods at eight national conferences.

“I am convinced that my ultimate job is to enhance the lives of others. I am equally convinced that I cannot do that without performing community-engaged-based practices,” Zagrodnik said. “I often find myself asking this to my students and myself: If we are not making a difference in ourselves, others and our community, what then are we doing it for?” 

Zagrodnik’s upcoming projects include creating an immersive study abroad program with the University of Otago in New Zealand to learn more about health, physical education and recreation for the Māori people and how these beliefs relate to the beliefs of the five indigenous tribes of Utah. He also chairs a WSU coalition to create a Multi-Sensory Environment for the campus and community. 

Alexander Lancaster

The grandson of Cuban immigrants, Alexander Lancaster, says he learned very early the importance of a supportive community in times of need, so he has made community service an integral part of his university responsibilities. 

As an associate professor in the Department of Communication, Lancaster directs the interpersonal and small group communication courses. Collaborating with CCEL, students in those courses provide more than 5,600 hours of service each semester. Lancaster said his students have helped community members experiencing a variety of social and access issues, including homelessness, food insecurity and the need for after-school childcare.

“Community engagement empowers students to make a difference in their local and broader communities, while also learning valuable skills that will aid them in their academic and professional lives,” Lancaster said.

For example, at Lancaster’s urging, Mitch Whitfield, a Master of Professional Communication student and graduate mentor, worked with a team of student researchers to address the challenge of improving the relationship and experience for birth mothers during the adoption process. They worked closely with a Utah adoption agency to present their research-based recommendations.

“Professor Lancaster has provided me the opportunity to give back to a community that I initially overlooked,” Whitfield wrote in a nomination letter. “I am a better leader, student and member of society because of him.”

With Lancaster’s guidance, Whitfield also conducted research on the online communication methods used by right-wing social groups. His presentation was accepted at the 106th National Communication Association Convention.

In addition to his teaching, Lancaster is completing his fourth year as the faculty co-advisor to Weber State’s Social Issues Team, which offers undergraduate students the opportunity to conduct original research based on community partner needs. Students in the program have completed research projects for Weber-Morgan Health Department, Ogden Police, Forever Bound Adoption Agency, and the Ogden Civic Action Network (OgdenCAN). The applied research projects have significant implications for participating community partners. The research findings also help guide community engagement opportunities because they indicate what issues are timely, relevant and most important to community members.

The team recently presented the results of a study on perceptions of voting systems in Utah to the Lt. Gov.'s Office. 

“I have found a new appreciation for the amazing work our dedicated students can do and for the good they bring to others when this work involves direct service, engaged scholarship or civic engagement within their communities,” Lancaster said.

Jennifer Bodine

As Weber State’s Facilities Management sustainability manager for over a decade, Jennifer Bodine has helped the campus community achieve her vision of affordable, sustainable environmental practices. By the numbers, the accomplishments are impressive. With Bodine’s help and collaborative leadership, WSU has cut its carbon footprint by more than 30% while simultaneously saving more than $15 million in avoided utility costs. The university is on track to meet its commitment to becoming carbon neutral by 2040, 10 years ahead of its original goal.

However, numbers don’t fully reflect Bodine's impact on students, the campus and the community. Bodine advises the Environmental Ambassadors club and has supported students in their campus-wide work to install bottle refill stations, bike racks and solar-covered picnic table pavilions. The student ambassadors have also partnered with groups on and off campus to host events such as the “Clear the Air Challenge” and Earth Day tree plantings with the help of local elementary students. In 2015, she and the ambassadors initiated the Green Department Certification Program, which now has 84 campus Green Teams committed to sustainability practices in everyday activities, such as reducing waste and limiting power consumption. Environmental Ambassadors also help support Weber State’s Intermountain Sustainability Summit, which just concluded its 12th year. The ambassadors extended their reach to food sustainability in the last few years. They now run the Weber State chapter of the Food Recovery Network, which collects fresh, unused food from WSU events and delivers it to the Weber Cares Food & Resources Pantry and Ogden’s Lantern House.

Bodine and her team have collaborated to host four community sustainability programs: Susie Hulet Community Solar, Drive Electric Northern Utah, Cut Pollution–Mow Electric, and the Empower Northern Utah Light Bulb Exchange. This year, they are working with the HEAT program to provide LED bulbs and smart thermostats to low-income households and the community. Bodine supported a significant collaboration with Ogden City and Weber State’s Department of Construction & Building Sciences as an Ogden Civic Action Network subcommittee member. WSU students designed and constructed a net-zero home in central Ogden. The home is currently one of nine international finalists in the Department of Energy Solar Decathlon.

Video: Tackling the Climate Crisis: Engaging Students and the Community in Urgent Work to Deploy Sustainable Solutions

Adam Johnston

Watching Adam Johnston teach science in the classroom, the park, or on the dance floor, it’s hard to tell who’s most enthralled, the teacher or the student. Making science approachable and applicable to all ages is Johnston’s goal and gift. Johnston fits the lessons to the students. For example 2007, he initiated Science in the Parks in partnership with Ogden School District’s free summer lunch program. After students eat, they spend an hour participating in a collection of interactive, playful, and fun science activities. “We reach out to the community, kids, in particular, to show them science is something that they can do every day -- at home in the kitchen or out on the playground,” Johnston said. “That’s the attitude scientists have, and we want to share with kids. Summer seems to be the right setting and the right time for that kind of playful attitude to take place.” 

Johnston’s collaborations include co-creating “Dance/Science Fest: A Body in Motion and Forces at Play,” with dance professor Erik Stern. The performances and workshops encourage understanding a body in space and the intersection of science and art. Johnston also consults with the Stewart Treehouse Museum in Ogden, where his students set up unique STEM activities for children and grownups. In a nomination letter, former students Celia Nilson and Misti Haslam, secondary science teachers, wrote, “Dr. Johnston always has encouraged us to be open to possibilities for children. He has demonstrated through example how to speak with young minds about the world and make them see, question, and become invested in the answers.” Statewide, Johnston is a consultant and instructor for the Elementary STEM Endorsement program. He is also the higher education representative for the Utah Science Teachers Association; in 2010, the association named him Utah’s Outstanding University Science Educator.

The consummate teacher’s teacher, Dr. Johnston, has worked broadly to prepare and mentor new teachers and develop a science curriculum for WSU’s College of Science. He is the former director of WSU’s Teaching and Learning Forum. He has also written and presented widely on science education. “I started my career at Weber State knowing I loved to teach physics, but I had to learn that the really important parts of teaching that I love are building relationships and making connections with communities,” Johnston said. “This understanding feels particularly salient right now as we’re trying to hold onto relationships in the midst of separating ourselves.” 

Video: Accidental Community Engaged Learning for Introverts, Skeptics and Curmudgeons

Forrest Crawford, Lifetime Achievement Award

Forrest Crawford arrived at Weber State on a football scholarship in 1972 and earned his degree in sociology just three years later. He returned to the university in 1977 to begin a career that included counseling, teaching, and advocating for diversity and social justice. Crawford was appointed Weber State’s first assistant to the president for institutional diversity in 1992, where he had the capacity and commitment to unite people in a shared vision. He helped establish WSU’s Native American Symposium and the Annual Diversity Conference.

As a long-time advisor to WSU’s student club, Black Scholars United, Crawford continues to mentor and teach students, helping them match their skills to community needs for the benefit of both. “Part of what I try to do, now, more than ever, is to make sure my students understand and apply clear, everyday practical and effective content in the classroom with the reality of what they experience or absorb on a daily basis. Equally important is helping our students explore and embrace meaning, context and practice toward personal growth—‘Knowing, Caring, Acting!’ What other way is justice delivered in a fair and equitable manner?” Crawford’s impact has reached far beyond the university as he established organizations that amplified his passion, such as the Utah Coalition for the Advancement of Minorities in Higher Education.

In 1991, he co-founded and served five years as chair of Gov. Michael Leavitt’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Human Rights Commission. Crawford was instrumental in the establishment of the official holiday celebrating the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. in Utah. In 2019, Crawford celebrated the passage of Utah’s hate crime bill, which he had championed for many years. Crawford served as secretary-general for the International Society for Teacher Education from 2011 to 2016. He has worked within the NAACP, the Utah Migrant Council, and Ogden’s Marshall White Center to provide youth education and enrichment. He helped found the Northern Utah HIV/AIDS Coalition, where he currently serves as chair. Through the Utah Humanities Council Venture Project, he has also helped educate and inspire the Ogden community with international traveling art exhibits and tuition-free humanities courses. Coretta Scott King praised Crawford for his lifetime of service. “Your commitment to educate, train and encourage your students using Kingian principles of nonviolent social changes has touched the lives of many,” she said. “You have been instrumental in promoting the legacy of Dr. King through your speeches, essays, and editorials.

Video: Teaching 'Grit': The Pedagogical Core of Knowing, Caring and Acting

Kathleen "K" Stevenson

Professor Kathleen “K” Stevenson joined the Department of Visual Art & Design faculty at Weber State in 2001. For several years, Stevenson has focused on community building through art. Her engagement and community work include the launch of the WSU Beverley Taylor Sorensen Arts Integration Endowment, an arts-integrated instructional program for Utah's public elementary students funded through a public/private partnership. Stevenson developed the interdisciplinary “ArtsBridge” curriculum that provides undergraduate students with an internship and academic credit for designing and implementing a comprehensive, needs-based, integrated arts project with community organizations or area schools.

In 2016, she taught the Honors course “Artist as Change Agent: Silkscreen” in conjunction with the Catholic Community Services of Northern Utah Food Bank.

In 2018, she co-taught, “Creating Community through the Arts: Moveable Murals.” The course partnered with Nurture the Creative Mind, a nonprofit organization directed by Weber State alumnus Amir Jackson. Students worked with civic leaders, area public art artists and teachers. They toured the Ogden region, studying and reflecting on historical and contemporary public murals. For their final project, they constructed a faux stained glass moveable mural, which has appeared at several area venues, including the Ogden Arts Festival and the Ogden Symphony Ballet Association.

Jeremy Farner

Professor of Building Design & Construction Jeremy Farner is breaking new ground in global engagement and experiential learning for students, faculty and community partners.  The courses he collaborates on with other WSU professors teach geography, culture, language, fundraising, project design, hands-on construction and, above all, cultural respect.  He has created opportunities for WSU students to transform their service into paying jobs at the women’s center in Mozambique and as the construction coordinator for Habitat for Humanity here in Weber County.  He modestly lives his teaching philosophy: “Education is opening up the vision of what role we all can and should play in our communities... I believe everyone wants to make a difference and leave their mark on the world. Getting students involved in solving real-world problems in their educational experience is vital.” Professor Farner’s work is a labor of love inside and outside the classroom.

Dr. Richard Fry

Dr. Richard Fry, associate professor of computer science at WSU, has been committed for seven years to building sustainable relationships with local and global community partners that guide students in finding solutions to real-world problems.  International projects include creating an electronic records system for a pediatric health service in New Zealand; building an open-sourced electronic health records system and developing the technical experience of locals for a teaching hospital in Ghana, Africa; and developing and building client and donor databases as well as a management system for a charity and orphanage in Thailand. This work often meant that students did discovery, scope and project analysis; they designed a product, interacted with the client, found donated hardware, built hardware and software, and shipped the material overseas before they installed and maintained it for a length of time, created documentation, trained people to use and maintain it, and then handed it off. Always an engaged community worker and dedicated professor, Rich encourages his colleagues to create similar courses through the Center for Community Engaged Learning.

WSU is indebted to Dr. Richard Fry for such creative and inspired leadership.

Dr. Azenett Garza

Professor of Psychology Azenett Garza serves her passions for social justice and mentoring students by applying her excellent research, leadership and teaching skills to solving problems in the Ogden community.  All community programs need data to secure funding and prove the most successful methods for accomplishing their purpose.  Azenett involves her students in every step of the process, from meeting with community partners to determine needs to developing research methodology and instruments, analyzing data, and presenting the results.  Her students also research local social issues and interventions and then work to ameliorate the problems, monitoring progress and making necessary adjustments. Among community organizations benefitting from Dr. Garza’s and her students’ work are Head Start, UTA, Catholic Community Services, the DaVinci Academy, the Ogden Police Department and Roy City.

Becky Jo Gesteland

Professor of English Becky Jo Gesteland has immersed her professional life in expanding the breadth and depth of community engaged learning (CEL) across the WSU campus and into the surrounding community. Over several years, she has worked on numerous CEL projects and courses, been a guest speaker to promote and explain how CEL functions, served on several committees and acted as the WSU liaison to the Utah Campus Compact on the Faculty Development Network.  As a faculty member of the Professional & Technical Writing Program, she has worked with colleagues and non-profit organizations to make all of the program courses CEL-designated – an exceptional achievement. Students in Dr. Gesteland’s courses have opportunities to write funding grants, develop Websites, and write policies and procedures manuals and volunteer handbooks. The non-profits with whom students work include food banks, domestic violence shelters, rehabilitation centers, museums, and civic and educational institutions.

Mike Moon

Mike Moon, an assistant director in WSU’s Center for Community Engaged Learning (CCEL), established his professional commitment to engaged community learning when he was a freshman at SUU after being encouraged to participate in a service leadership position by a course instructor.  So thrilled was he to find an opportunity that “encompassed his passions and skills,” he subsequently completed an M.Ed. in Education Administration that emphasized reflection practices in community-engaged learning and has since left masses of deeply engaged students at every institution he has served. In the CCEL, Mike oversees community partnerships, the CE Leaders program, four large annual days of service, scholarships, awards, alternative breaks in spring and fall, and international community engagement projects.  In each of these programs, Mike has created more structural integrity, clarified roles and responsibilities, introduced leadership training, created assessment tools regularly used, developed training manuals, involved community partners at significant levels and effected consistent collaboration among community partners, students and professors.

Dr. Leah Murray

Dr. Leah Murray, associate professor of political science at WSU, has devoted her professional life as a teacher, a scholar and a citizen to training the next generation on the habits of good citizenship.  Projects she has initiated or co-coordinated over the past decade at WSU include the American Democracy Project, Constitution Week and Deliberative Democracy Day, each of which engages students in programming and interviewing prospective panelists as well as invites the WSU and Ogden communities to discuss important controversial issues among themselves and with local and national leaders. Dr. Murray’s work within and for the Center for Community Engaged Learning (CCEL) includes incorporating engaged learning into two of her courses, presenting at regional and national conferences to educate other professors, training a WSU student to register college and high school students to vote, training another student to post news about and from local governance groups to encourage campus participation in democratic processes, and conceiving of the Civitas program.  The last provides a certificate at graduation for students who create and defend a portfolio of their community work, thereby demonstrating distinction in four areas of civic engagement. Students who succeed earn the designation non-sibi, sed civitas (not for self, but for community) on their transcript.

In 2012, Dr. Murray became Faculty in Residence for CCEL to train faculty on best practices in community engaged learning.

Dr. Lisa Trujillo

Dr. Lisa Trujillo, director of Clinical Education in the Department of Respiratory Therapy, amazes students and colleagues with her passionate commitment to service locally and globally.  Embedding community engaged learning in her courses, Dr. Trujillo enables her students locally to teach about respiratory health, basic life support and disease prevention; to create personal service projects with community providers; and to involve themselves at the state level with legislative activities and rallies relating to tobacco regulation at the state Capitol.

Since 2005, Dr. Trujillo’s global work has concentrated on Ghana, West Africa. Valuing interdisciplinary knowledge, she collaborates with faculty members from the departments of geography, computer science and business; she partners with Ghanaian community entities, from hospitals and schools to e-waste centers, to provide free health services, medical education and community health education to the underserved. Her students always work and learn alongside her, maturing through reflection, journaling and debriefing, which are key to assessing and improving quality in community-engaged learning activities.  In addition, Dr. Trujillo introduced the profession of respiratory therapy to the Ghanaian medical community by helping to develop a baccalaureate program; she and her students built and implemented its curriculum with Ghanaian faculty.

Valerie Herzog

Associate athletic training professor Valerie Herzog has established many community partners, so her students have volunteered with organizations and events, including the Special Olympics, Ogden Rescue Mission, Ogden Marathon, XTERRA triathlon, high school wrestling and basketball tournaments, youth sports camps, junior high and high school physical exams and the Central Pacific Regional Figure Skating Championships. According to Herzog, an athletic trainer and the WSU student volunteers are the only medical providers they have access to for many young athletes throughout the year.

Julie Rich

Julie Rich is an assistant geography professor at WSU. Rich co-directs the Global Education Opportunity (GEO) program, where students live and work in Geneva, Switzerland, on behalf of the Worldwide Organization for Women, for which Rich served as president from 2010-12. Students spend about seven weeks in Geneva researching global women’s issues and then another seven weeks engaged in a United Nations humanitarian project in a country grappling with those issues. “The GEO program provides students with a powerful experience on the global stage by working with ambassadors, ministers and humanitarian officials who promote international economic and social cooperation plus development,” Rich said. “Because students are learning on-site, they gain an understanding of how the UN resolves international issues, how policy is developed, how grassroots organizations operate and how they can assist disadvantaged people in developing countries.” She has also worked with students and community partners who installed wells and solar lighting in Rwanda and provided wheelchairs and playground equipment for an orphanage in Kyrgyzstan. On a local level, Rich partnered her geography students with the Friends of the Great Salt Lake School Curriculum Program. Together, they developed original seventh-grade environmental educational material that connected Great Salt Lake concepts with Utah social studies core curriculum.

Patricia Cost

Patricia Cost is a Health Promotion and Human Performance (HPHP) assistant professor at WSU. Over the past three years since returning to Weber State, Cost has benefited the community through the Program Planning and Needs Assessment course in the HPHP department. So far, she has mentored more than 120 students and has planned, implemented and evaluated 37 community-based projects. Her classes provide interactive real-world experience. “I believe in providing an experiential education because research has proven that students learn by doing,” said Cost, who also serves as the Health Promotion Program Director. She facilitates opportunities for the students to work with organizations such as the Boy Scouts of America, the Huntsman Cancer Institute, St. Anne’s Homeless Shelter, and area high schools. Working together, the students, community and Cost spend hours tackling complex issues these organizations face. Her class focuses on improving the community and in turn, students are given first-hand experience with an organization of their choice. “I truly believe that as an educator, it is my responsibility to help students become morally and civilly responsible individuals so that they can recognize themselves as members of a larger social fabric,” said Cost.

Dr. Bryan Dorsey

Bryan Dorsey, Ph.D. and M.A., is a geography professor who serves as the WSU Urban and Regional Planning program coordinator. The land-use planning program benefits from a partnership with Ogden City's Community Development and Planning Department. Bryan has engaged his land use planning students in urban and city planning projects for local communities since 1998. Projects have ranged from pathways to transit planning and full general city plans for municipalities such as Marriott-Slaterville, Sunset, and Washington Terrace. Other projects involve open space preservation in Plain City, North Ogden, and Morgan and Weber Counties. Bryan’s students have received excellent learning and career development opportunities and those that emerge from devoting their creative energy to long-term community decision-making. Bryan has been a leader in two of WSU’s undergraduate education movements: service-learning scholarship as a pedagogy and as a practical, citizenship-building enterprise and environmental issues awareness to promote such needs as energy and water conservation, air quality improvements and ecosystem preservation.

Stephanie Bossenberger

Stephanie Bossenberger, R.D.H. and M.S., is professor and chair of the Dental Hygiene Department. During the last decade, she has enhanced community service-learning in the dental hygiene curriculum by incorporating a wide variety of service opportunities that enable her students to provide oral care education, dental screenings, and direct dental hygiene treatment to thousands of local residents, particularly children and under-served populations from inner-city areas. Stephanie has worked to influence state legislation to permit dental hygienists to serve in atypical settings such as Head Start programs, residential care centers, and elder community programs so everyone can access excellent dental hygiene care. Stephanie instills in her students a commitment to the local and international community through life-long service and learning, beginning with collaboration in her courses to address health issues and strategize for corrective action. Students learn to carry that collaboration into relationships with other community service providers to build resources for a healthier, happier community.

Dr. Colleen Garside

Dr. Garside is among the most active faculty members on campus in mentoring students, both in community-based research and civic engagement and service learning. She has involved students with a long list of civic groups, government and charitable associations. These include the YMCA, Christmas Box House, Ogden High School, Mount Ogden Junior High, and Youth Impact. Dr. Garside’s involvement with campus and community service is ongoing. She is serving and continues to serve in numerous capacities on all levels. Nationally, she is an active partner with Communicating Common Ground, a service-learning initiative in communication. On a state level, she has been involved with the UCC and the Faculty Consulting Corps for three years. Colleen also supports the Community Involvement Center at WSU, serving on numerous committees. She has been involved most recently in mentoring a faculty member through the Faculty Fellows program and participating in the supplemental instructor program.

Shannon Butler

Shannon has been at Weber State University for 23 years, and during that time, she has been an exemplary service-learning faculty member and colleague. She has led the grassroots service-learning movement on this campus from the outset and remains active in establishing our new Community Involvement Center (CIC), creating valuable learning and leadership opportunities for WSU students. She has received several awards for her excellence in collaboration and has been key in the curriculum development of several service-learning classes and presentations. Her dedication to the civic engagement of WSU students has not only inspired and affected many students but has provided a model for other faculty to follow.

Dr. Alicia Giralt

Dr. Alicia Giralt was born in Barcelona, Spain, and she has always been fascinated by the communication process. She received a Bachelor’s degree in print journalism from Wayne State University in Detroit. After teaching a class at Wayne University, she discovered a passion for teaching and obtained her Master’s in Spanish Literature and Ph.D. in Twentieth Century Peninsular Literature.

Kathryn MacKay

Associate professor Kathryn L. MacKay was recently named the first recipient of the John A. Lindquist Award.
MacKay, who has taught in the Department of History at Weber State University since 1988, received the award for her work mentoring students in learning through community involvement.

MacKay has been influential in promoting learning through civic engagement at WSU and throughout the state. She has been involved, since its inception, with Utah Campus Compact, an organization dedicated to promoting service learning on Utah’s college campuses. In 2000, she used part of her salary to help establish the Office of Academic Service Learning at the university.
Several of MacKay’s courses require students to do service learning, including working at the TreeHouse Museum, Fort Buenaventura and local museums and archives, as well as after-school and tutoring programs in Weber and Davis counties. She also helped establish the American Democracy Project at WSU, encouraging campuses to provide students with civic engagement experiences.
MacKay plans on continuing her work with service learning in the future. “Hopefully, I will continue to learn how to better foster in my students a sense that the individual can contribute to the common good,” she said.