The Outstanding Outreach and Public Engagement Award honors a CLAS faculty member who has engaged in activities that bring the University to broader communities in significant and sustained ways.
2023-2024
Peter Gerlach
Peter Gerlach is assistant professor of instruction in International Studies. He also serves as the executive director of the Iowa City Foreign Relations Council (ICFRC). Gerlach’s teaching areas include international studies, international education, refugee and immigrant studies, and community engaged learning. He serves on the board of directors at the Refugee and Immigrant Association, the planning committee of the Refugee Alliance of Johnson County, and was a member of the inaugural 2023-24 Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) Higher Education Ambassador program.
2022-2023
Philip Combiths
Philip Combiths is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders. His work and research focus on using language diversity to better understand developmental speech and language impairments and provide better clinical services to all individuals with communication disorders. Public engagement is embedded in his teaching and outreach activities, including building a community-engaged research project through Neighborhood Centers of Johnson County, a non-profit community organization that supports predominantly low-income immigrant families. Combiths and his students are helping children with language development in the center’s preschool programs.
2021-2022
Kirsten Kumpf Baele
Dr. Kirsten Kumpf Baele has shown her excellence and commitment to the Iowa community through her work and dedication surrounding Anne Frank. She applied for and brought the 13th Anne Frank tree to be planted onto the University of Iowa’s Pentacrest. This act culminated Iowa’s rich literary history at the center point for peaceful protest on campus.
Kristy Nabhan-Warren
Dr. Kristy Nabhan-Warren has immersed herself within the meatpacking industry to write her book Meatpacking in America: How Migration, Work, and Faith Divide the Heartland. Her commitment to giving a voice to those who face economic difficulties, complexities of politics, and in general difficult lives proved to benefit our community and the university.
Heather Spangler
Heather Spangler has not only directly impacted the community with her personal outreach in public engagement, but she also has inspired hundreds of students to do so as well. Through her engaging coursework, she provides students with opportunities to directly engage with their community and improve sustainability. She has led networking trips to major cities, developed a study abroad course in Italy, and is actively engaged in a non-profit, Box of Balloons.