Organization/Partner Recipients: The 34th Annual Division of Student Affairs Awards

From identifying new ways to connect students via Zoom calls and computer screens during the COVID-19 pandemic, to being responsive in the face of nationwide political tension and movements highlighting social injustice, each office within the Division of Student Affairs has continued to excel in our mission to enhance student success, lifelong learning, and personal growth. This year’s Division of Student Affairs Award recipients have demonstrated exceptional creativity, expertise, and team leadership with the many challenges that came their way during the 2020-2021 school year. In this article, we would like to highlight the organizations and campus partners awardees and their contributions to IU that have exemplified the Division’s dedication to enhancing the student experience. Congrats to this year’s organizations and partners!

Campus Program Award

This recognition award is given annually to the campus program that has done the most to foster the mission of the Division of Student Affairs during the preceding year. This year, we congratulate the Union Board Film Series for their consistent dedication to providing fun and free weekend entertainment opportunities for students on the Bloomington campus.

Union Board Film Series

Indiana Memorial Union

The Indiana Memorial Union Board has screened popular films for IU students and for the Bloomington community since 1914 – and they’ve refused to be stifled by the uncertainty of a global pandemic. During the last year, Union Board Films screened more than 59 movies with about 142 indoor and outdoor screenings, serving more than 3,030 IU students and providing them with a critical piece of their college experience in a time they assumed would be lost. By reimagining the program to offer a similar degree of student engagement under IU’s COVID-19 event programming policies, UB Films has been able to exemplify all that the Division of Student Affairs values. 

Union Board has a one-hundred year history of screening films, but this year the program and the students who run it have shown an immense amount of tenacity and resilience, while remaining steadfast and dedicated to building unique and inclusive film experiences for students.

– Nominator for UB Film Series

Non-Division Staff Award

This recognition award is given annually to University staff members outside the Division of Student Affairs to commend their efforts in promoting the mission of the Division.  This category includes all University staff members and University faculty members presently serving in an administrative capacity. We are proud to recognize Doug Booher (University Events) and Graham McKeen (Emergency Management) as this year’s honorees.

Doug Booher

Executive Director, University Events

While Doug’s dedication to keeping the Hoosier community entertained has been integral to his current work since his undergraduate years at IU, he managed to balance this with an even greater responsibility: keeping students, faculty, and staff safe during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout 2020 and 2021, Doug has worked to coordinate comprehensive programs for mitigation testing, arrival testing, contact tracing, and quarantining in order to keep our community safe; to help students safely engage with one another over outdoor movie nights, comedy shows, music events, and lectures during Open Air Venues; to offer a wide variety of virtual entertainment opportunities through IU Auditorium; to finally make a long-awaited graduation ceremony possible for thousands of 2020 and 2021 IU graduates; and so much more. Doug’s long-held passions for IU, hospitality, and the performing arts are second-to-none, and his devotion to the team members he works with and the students he serves has been paramount in the contributions he’s made over the last year.

Doug always has time for students, fostering lifelong learning and connection back to IU… [He] does not say “no” when asked to support IU’s mission, students, faculty, and staff.

– Doug’s Nominator

Graham McKeen

Assistant University Director, Public and Environmental Health

To say Graham was working nonstop in the University’s response to COVID-19 would be an understatement. With his involvement in the University Event Request Committee; his vital role in contact tracing, testing, and vaccination efforts; and his valuable input on all things related to student event coordination (including guidance on event capacities, temporary food service and distribution, and tabling best practice); Graham has always been there to provide his knowledge and support as needed. Without question, Graham’s continued dedication to protecting IU students, faculty, and staff while allowing them to convene under COVID-19-safe regulations has been absolutely necessary in keeping the IU Bloomington campus operating.

It’s difficult to imagine what student life would have looked like at Indiana University in 2020-2021 without Graham McKeen… With his ongoing and exemplary efforts this year to ensure student safety and wellbeing, his work truly exemplifies the mission and values of the Division.

– Graham’s Nominator

Schreck Community Award

This recognition award is given annually to a non-University employee or organization that, through their interactions with our students, has fostered the mission, vision, and values of the Division of Student Affairs. This year, we congratulate Penny Caudill (Monroe County Health Department) as our Schreck Community Award recipient.

Penny Caudill

Health Administrator, Monroe County Health Department

Under Penny Caudill’s administration, the Monroe County Health County has been critical to IU’s prosperity throughout her response to COVID-19. Penny met regularly with Residential Programs and Services and IU fraternities and sororities to discuss housing recommendations and testing guidance, provide quarantine and isolation guidance, and offer regular consultation support and assistance to students and advisors. Moreover, Penny worked closely with the Public Health and Safety departments at IU to transition Monroe County’s main vaccination site to Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall to increase vaccine mobility and accessibility for at-risk populations in the area. Her exceptional service to the residents of Monroe County and the IU Bloomington community during this time of need have made her a stand-out advocate for public health, and we couldn’t be more appreciative.

Penny Caudill has gone above and beyond her role as a health administrator… [IU is] incredibly lucky to have had the support, partnership and assistance from Penny and the Monroe County Health Department this past year.

– Penny’s Nominator