Butler, Giralt Receive Lindquist Award
OGDEN, Utah – Weber State University professors Shannon Butler and Alicia Giralt have been named the 2008 recipients of the John A. Lindquist Award.The Lindquist Award, which was established in 2007, is awarded annually to faculty or staff members who have demonstrated an ongoing commitment to mentoring WSU students in learning through community involvement.
Butler, an English professor at WSU since 1984, has incorporated service learning in her classes since 1990. Her students have been assigned to serve as mentors to students in the English as a Second Language program, tutors to local high school students, and organizers of neighborhood reading programs including reading to patients at nursing homes and hospitals. She also was an active member of the committee that helped develop and create the Community Involvement Center at WSU.
"In my courses, service learning is not an addendum, an option or used for extra credit," Butler said. "It is a mandatory venture that teaches students much more fully than instruction alone ever could."
Since coming to WSU in 1999 to teach Spanish, Giralt also has incorporated service-learning opportunities in her courses. Her students have collaborated with other WSU students to tutor Central Middle School students, translate for local hospitals and clinics, teach adult ESL classes and interpret for small businesses with Hispanic clients. They also have traveled to Ecuador to assist nursing students who didn't speak Spanish in providing medical care.
"My goal is to help my students become life-long learners who know how to communicate with, appreciate and respect the cultures of the Hispanic people," Giralt said. "I also want to help them be better citizens by becoming involved in the community, putting into practice what they learn in class."
A committee with representation from faculty, staff, trustees, community partners and students selected Butler and Giralt. They will be formally honored at a special awards luncheon on April 11 in the Shepherd Union Ballroom.
This award is named for John A. Lindquist, a strong advocate for education and the community, who has spent a lifetime supporting Ogden, Weber County and Weber State. Lindquist's ties to WSU date back to the late 1930s, when he attended Weber College and was a student body officer. Through the years, he has generously supported cultural, academic, athletic and student activities and programs at Weber State.
Visit weber.edu/wsutoday for more news about Weber State University.
- Contact:
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Shannon Butler, English professor
801-626-6623 • sbutler@weber.edu
Alicia Giralt, Spanish professor
801-626-6726 • agiralt@weber.edu -
Travis Clemens, assistant director of Media Relations
(801) 626-7948 • travisclemens@weber.edu
Past Lindquist Award Recipients
2007 -- Kathryn MacKay
2008 -- Shannon Butler
Alicia Giralt
2009 -- Colleen Garside