Julie Lawson of Peace College has received the fourth annual North Carolina Campus Compact Civic Engagement Professional of the Year Award.

The award, announced May 27 during the Compact’s seventh annual civic engagement administrator conference at Davidson College,  is presented annually to a higher education staff member in North Carolina who has worked toward the institutionalization of service, created and strived towards a vision of service on their campus, supported faculty and students, and formed innovative campus-community partnerships.

Lawson was acknowledged as an emerging leader in the civic engagement field. Since 2007, Lawson has served as the director of student life and director of leadership and service at Peace College, where community service has more than tripled under her guidance.

Among Lawson’s accomplishments, she has applied for and received grant funding for the MLK Service Day, developed and coordinated a community service learning community, overseen the creation of new service clubs, coordinated alternative break trips, expanded the NC-ACTS*AmeriCorps program, developed relationships with new community partners and created advisors’ training sessions. 

Additional highlights from Lawson’s efforts include the creation of a new funding system on campus for student clubs and organizations to reward those student groups that take on a nonprofit group and participate in regular service projects. 

Lawson has also had a dramatic impact on the recycling and green efforts on campus including working with the Student Government Association and food service vendor to eliminate Styrofoam and purchase green recyclable containers for all students to use when participating in the food service “To Go” program.  With trash audits designed to promote recycling, and “Green Team” marches on faculty and staff offices, the entire campus has become more ecologically focused and the campus is saving money as a result.  

N.C. Campus Compact is a statewide coalition of college and university presidents and chancellors established to encourage and support campus engagement in the community.  For more information contact North Carolina Campus Compact’s Executive Director, Dr. Lisa Keyne at (336) 278-7278. 

Peace College is a liberal arts and sciences college that concentrates on providing a close and intensive academic environment for women. For more information about the educational opportunities available at Peace College, visit the Peace Web site – www.peace.edu.