Wednesday, February 1st, 2012

Melissa Grunow was recognized by Michigan Campus Compact (MICC) as a recipient of the 2012 Michigan Campus Compact Faculty/Staff Community Service-Learning Award.  This is a significant biennial award that MICC bestows on faculty and staff at 42 member campuses throughout Michigan.

As the director of leadership programs and first-year experiences, Grunow implemented a campus-wide service-learning initiative through grant funds and programs such as AmeriCorps Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA).

MICC presented Grunow with the award at the 2012 Service-Learning and Civic Engagement Awards Ceremony in East Lansing on Jan. 30.

Nominated by Provost Maria Vaz, Grunow was designated as the person at Lawrence Tech who has made the most outstanding contributions in the area of community service-learning during the past two years.

In the 2010 National Survey of Student Engagement, 65 percent of Lawrence Tech freshmen declared that they had been engaged in a service-learning experience, 26 percent higher than the national average.

“Our extraordinary progress in the area of service-learning, volunteerism, and civic engagement is due to Melissa’s outstanding strategic efforts and leadership,” Vaz said.

Grunow adopted “Leading through Service” as the tagline for the leadership program more than three years ago because of the inherent connection between civic engagement and community involvement to student leadership development. She has used this motto to motivate thousands of students to use service learning as part of their classroom leadership development and co-curricular experiences.

“I am humbled by the nomination and honor,” Grunow said. “When I first came to Lawrence Tech, there were no campus-wide service initiatives in place for our students. Since the implementation of the leadership program, I have seen a culture of service resonate throughout campus.”

Michigan Campus Compact (MICC) promotes the education and commitment of Michigan college students to be civically engaged citizens through creating and expanding academic, co-curricular, and campus-wide opportunities for community service, service learning, and civic engagement.

MICC celebrates the community service and service-learning work of faculty and staff from 42 member institutions every other year with the Faculty/Staff Community Service-Learning Award.

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