News release from IPFW:
IPFW College of Arts and Sciences Awards First Regional Engagement Award
(March 23, 2011) – The Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW) College of Arts and Sciences (COAS) recently awarded the Regional Engagement Award to Andrew Downs. Downs is the director of the Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics and an assistant professor of political science. The COAS Community Board established the new award to recognize and celebrate members of COAS who are committed to outstanding and high-impact engagement with northeast Indiana
Ann Livschiz, assistant professor of history, nominated Downs. “Downs embodies the principles of regional engagement, and we can think of no other COAS faculty member more deserving of being the recipient of the First Regional Engagement Award. He is an exemplar of someone in the College of Arts and Sciences, who is able to combine service, teaching, and scholarship into a coherent plan of action, with tremendous impact on his students, his colleagues, the university, and Fort Wayne community.”
As director of the Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics, Downs helps the people of Indiana understand the role of government, politics, and civic involvement in their lives and encourages participation in public and political processes. This includes conducting political polls to produce data for the Fort Wayne community, local, and national media. Also, Downs uses his expertise to provide outreach to local schools to help them refine their curriculum. He is the administrator of the Certificate for Civic Education and Public Advocacy at IPFW and offers a Foundations of Community Advocacy course to provide the necessary skills to students and community members interested in this field.
“Two of IPFW’s goals are to contribute to the development of northeast Indiana and to foster learning and create knowledge. I take these goals very seriously and try to integrate them into my teaching, service, and research. I also work to incorporate the research and service I do with what happens in my classes. Doing this does three things. It serves as an example to the students of how the research the scholars at IPFW are doing can be applied in our community. It prepares the students to apply what they have learned in the classroom in other situations. Finally, it helps these current and future leaders see how IPFW can contribute to the development of northeast Indiana. I see it as a way to build a productive connection between IPFW and our community. I’m honored to be chosen for this award and look forward to many more years of doing the work that this award recognizes.”
The COAS Community Advisory Board will give the award to a COAS faculty member annually. The award will recognize faculty who use the intellectual capital and resources of IPFW to assess, plan, implement, evaluate, document, and disseminate results from collaborations with partner organizations such as businesses and corporations; local, regional, or state government; or non-governmental, not-for-profit
organizations.
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