ONEONTA _ Alison Black and Jane Miller of the elementary education and reading department at the State University College at Oneonta have received the annual 2009 Ashok Kumar Malhotra Seva (Compassionate Service) Faculty Award.
Black and Miller will deliver the 2009 Malhotra Seva Lecture, an address titled "Literacy Opening Doors to the Community and to the World," at 7 p.m. today in the Craven Lounge of the Morris Conference Center.
In their presentation, the faculty members will discuss two programs _ Reach Out And Read (ROAR) and Heifer International _ that they have implemented in their Reading and Literacy course.
According to a media release, SUNY Oneonta students in Black and Miller's classes have volunteered to read aloud to children at Bassett Healthcare in Oneonta through the local ROAR program. The students have contributed more than 400 hours of service, reading for children who are waiting for appointments at the clinic.
Students also volunteer to participate in Heifer International by seeking sponsors for the 25 children's books that they read as a requirement for the course.
With contributions of several hundred dollars from sponsors, the classes have contributed more than $6,500 to Heifer International, which uses the funds to provide farm animals to impoverished families worldwide.
In 2007, Heifer International honored the SUNY Oneonta students and faculty members with its Ark Award in recognition of their efforts.
Black, who holds a doctorate from Syracuse University, has been a member of the SUNY Oneonta faculty since 1995. She taught previously at Syracuse University.
Miller holds a bachelor's degree from SUNY Oneonta and a master's degree from the State University College at New Paltz.
She has taught at SUNY Oneonta since 1996 and worked for many years as a reading teacher at Franklin Central School.
The Ashok Kumar Malhotra Seva Faculty Award was established through the College at Oneonta Foundation by Ashok Malhotra, a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor who has taught philosophy at the college since 1967.
The fund provides an annual award of $1,000 to a SUNY Oneonta faculty member who exemplifies compassionate service.
Award recipients are selected by the college provost based on the recommendations of a faculty-selection committee.
Criteria include performing community service; demonstrating the ability to motivate and inspire others to perform community service; and integrating community service into the teaching and learning process, presenters said.
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