Hershey, Pa.--Widener University President James T. Harris III recently
received the Arthur V. Ciervo Award from CUPRAP: The Association of
Communicators in Education for his contributions to higher education. CUPRAP
presented Harris with the award during the organization’s annual conference in
Hershey, Pa.
The award, which is named in honor
of the founder and first president of CUPRAP, is presented to a public
relations professional, president, higher education advocate, public official
or outstanding faculty or staff member who exemplifies CUPRAP’s fundamental
purposes of supporting and advancing the understanding of higher education.
In
accepting the award, Harris said higher education is currently losing the
public relations battle in the public forum because the conversation about
higher education is focused on jobs, the economy and keeping costs low.
“Certainly,
these outcomes are important on some level,” Harris said. “But what we have
lost sight of is that the fundamental purpose of a college education should be
to produce fully engaged global citizens.”
“The art
of story-telling is what all of you do. A commitment to helping others, in the
true spirit of responsible citizenship, is what our institutions do. If we
combine those two elements, we will go a long way in advancing the
understanding and support of higher education.”
Harris has
dedicated his career to making colleges and universities agents of change in
their communities, utilizing innovation and collaboration to make a difference
in cities such as Chester, Pa. In his 11 years at Widener, Harris has
transformed the university into one of the nation’s leading civic engagement
universities, recognized by Newsweek, Washington Monthly, the
President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll and the Carnegie
Foundation.
In 2006, Harris and his colleagues
at Widener took a bold, innovative step, launching the state’s first university
based charter school—the Widener Partnership Charter School.
In addition, Harris was the driving
force in establishing the Chester Higher Education Council, a consortium of
presidents from colleges and universities in the region including Cheyney
University of Pennsylvania, Delaware County Community College, Neumann
University, Penn State-Brandywine, Swarthmore College and Widener. The
council’s efforts led to the opening of the College Access Center of Delaware
County which provides free college preparation services to high school students
and adults.
Under his leadership, the university
has also launched the High School Leadership Awards in conjunction with NBC 10
in Philadelphia. Through this program, high schools in southeastern
Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware nominate outstanding student
leaders from their schools. The winners are recognized by Widener and NBC 10 at
an awards ceremony at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia and
receive free leadership training at Widener.
Previous recipients of the Ciervo
Award include former U.S. Senator Harris Wofford, former Pennsylvania Governor
Mark Schweiker and Congressman Chaka Fattah, among others.
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