Brown wins inaugural faculty civic engagement award

Dr. Riva Brown

Dr. Riva Brown

Dr. Riva Brown was recognized April 20, 2021, with the first Distinguished Faculty Advocate for Civic Engagement award from the Division of Outreach & Community Engagement.

Dr. Lesley Graybeal, director of service learning, said the new recognition was created by UCA’s Vote Everywhere team to recognize the increased importance of civic engagement as a type of community engagement on our campus.

From the award announcement: “The Distinguished Faculty Advocate for Civic Engagement recognizes a UCA faculty member who displays a commitment to the civic engagement of students by developing students as citizens through intentional design of curricular and co-curricular experiences. Our inaugural award recipient not only relentlessly pursues civic learning outcomes in her public relations courses but has also modeled active citizenship in her role as advisor for the campus chapter of the NAACP and a member of the Civic Action Coordination Committee.”

Graybeal said: “Dr. Brown has been an incredible asset to civic engagement work on our campus. The way that she ties together innovative teaching, advocacy, and collaborative research for the public good is inspiring, and our students benefit so much from her support and the way that she models active citizenship.”