The Daily Bulletin

Nominations are now open for the Deborah K. Renzi Social Advocacy Award. Mrs. Renzi served Buffalo State University for 39 years as the director of admissions and records, assistant professor and field education coordinator in the Social Work Department, and staff assistant in the Civic and Community Engagement Office (CCE). Throughout her influential career, she supported thousands of students and believed in the power of higher education to bring about systemic change and create opportunities and equity for all. Mrs. Renzi believed that the transformation of policies, practices, social norms, and personal mindsets are necessary to shift the conditions that hold social problems and inequality in place.

The Deborah K. Renzi Social Advocacy Award honors Mrs. Renzi’s legacy and leadership by celebrating an individual who has similarly worked to foster change in societal structures to create equity, justice, and inclusion in a variety of ways, including through campus-community partnerships.

Students, alumni, faculty, staff, and community partners are eligible for recognition and must demonstrate the ability to

• seek out and engage respectfully across differences to understand the many angles of a societal issue;
• demonstrate leadership in the creation of knowledge, action, and positive societal change that address inequity;
• create awareness of the power of each person to foster change;
• engage others directly in opportunities to develop cultural humility, empathy, compassion, and courage to act in service to the greater good.

Please submit nominations through the CCE website. The nomination deadline is Monday, April 29. For more information, please visit the award page of the Civic and Community Engagement website.