Crothers Named ISU Outstanding Service Award Recipient

Illinois State University will present Politics and Government Professor Lane Crothers with the University Outstanding Service Award at the Founders Day Convocation on Thursday, Feb. 17, at 2 p.m.  Monica Noraian, History, and Noha Shawki, Politics and Government, will receive the University Service Initiative Award.

The University Service Awards recognize and honor faculty members who have demonstrated excellence in service to Illinois State University. Crothers will receive $3,000, and Noraian and Shawki will receive $500 each.

Crothers served as faculty advisor, a role he said was one of teaching outside the classroom, for the Illinois State University/Illinois Wesleyan University chapter of Habitat for Humanity for five years.  He said seeing students in that role helped him to appreciate their multiple dimensions that he didn't always see in the large classrooms he taught. Crothers then took on the task of Academic Senate Chair for five years, in which he saw "thoughtful, committed people serving" and realized that "we all do better when any one of us does better."  He said his personal vision of service is not separate from teaching and research, but rather that it is in "seeking to engage with the broader world, whether student, staff, administration, community, discipline or world, that learning and teaching go on."  Crothers also serves as the Politics and Government's director of Assessment and chaired the Fiscal Integrity Committee for the Athletics Council and the Committee on Recruitment and Retention for Politics and Government.  Past service included chairing the Academic Senate Executive Committee, co-chairing the Council of Illinois University Senates, chairing the Campus Communication Committee and co-chairing the Educating Illinois Team on Academic Culture. Crothers is currently serving as chair of the search committee for the Vice President of Student Affairs position.

Noraian has served as a faculty advisor/sponsor for numerous student clubs and organizations as well as on the Urban Teacher Education Committee/Pipeline, Provost's Distance Education Task Force and the College of Arts and Sciences Council for Teacher Education. She facilitated the establishment of the Sutter Scholarship and co-coordinates the Fred Drake Alumni Award.  Noraian is co-chair of the College of Education Diverse Learners Taskforce.

Shawki has directed the Model UN program for the past three years, served on three search committees as well as the Politics and Government Department Faculty Status Committee, Graduate Committee and Executive Committee. She coordinated the 2009 Hibbert Roberts Lecture, which focused on the social forum process. Shawki also trained and traveled with a student team as part of a collaborative research and service project documenting and evaluating the 2010 U.S. Social Forum, which was held in Detroit, Mich. The project included students and scholars from numerous colleges and universities across the country.