Lawrence University was recently honored with two Pride of CASE V awards at the 37th annual Pride of CASE V awards conference.
Rachel Crowl, web content and new media coordinator at Lawrence, won a gold award for the Video Feature category for her video on the manhole covers that were created in conjunction with Appleton’s Compassion Project. Lawrence also received a bronze award in the Best Collaborative Program category for the Lawrence scholars program.
According to the website for the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, “The Pride of CASE V Awards Program honors institutions and individuals who demonstrate outstanding achievement in the concept and execution of advancement programs and communications.” Award recipients were selected from institutions within District V, which includes Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin.
The “This Is Lawrence” video series began with a student competition conducted by the development office as part of the More Light! campaign.
The first student to be hired was recent graduate Alex Bunke ‘09, just as Crowl joined the Lawrence staff and was asked to manage this project. Crowl shot some footage, which was used by Bunke for the videos.
The next year, Bunke left Lawrence’s staff and Danny Ceballos, an Emmy award winner, was hired. After Ceballos was offered work at the Rosie O’Donnell show in Chicago, Crowl became the sole person in charge of video production at Lawrence.
Crowl came to Lawrence without any long-term plans of staying, but, coincidentally, she received a job offer for media production at Lawrence. She ended up staying and fell in love with Lawrence, calling it “an awesome place to work.”
The idea to create a video of the manhole cover project came up at a lunch with President Jill Beck, when Beck asked Crowl and Associate Professor of Art and Frederick R. Layton Professor of Art Rob Neilson to contribute to the Compassion Project at the Trout Museum of Art, run by Lawrence alumnus Tim Riley ‘92.
The result was a three-minute-and-33-second-long video showcasing the design and construction of the manhole covers.
Crowl was given a couple of months to complete the video, allowing her to chronicle the entire process, from student designing in the Wriston art studios to smelting at the Neenah foundry, up to the installation on Lawrence’s campus and on College Avenue.
Crowl was surprised to discover that her video was declared a gold award winner at the 37th Annual Pride of CASE V conference the very day her More Light! video was to be showcased during the campaign finale.
According to Crowl, “The timing couldn’t have been more perfect.” She noted that she was “absurdly pleased” by it.
“I try to tell the little stories the best as I can and not worry [about] the big one because the big one is being filled by all the little ones,” she claimed.
Lawrence also received a Pride of CASE V bronze award for its Lawrence scholars program. The 2011-2012 school year marks the fourth year of the program, which initially began with just a business program.
Lawrence trustee Bob Perille ‘80 felt that there was a real need for Lawrence students to get business opportunities after graduation. The success of this led to the subsequent creation of similar programs in other fields.
Associate Vice President of Alumni and Constituency Engagement Mark Breseman noted, “The idea of Lawrence Scholars in Business was so fabulous, we wanted it in everything — Lawrence Scholars in Art, Law, Entertainment, History, anything where a few alums will get together and talk about specific career opportunities in specific fields.”
According to Breseman, this confluence of people from different fields and backgrounds coming together for a common purpose “caught CASE’s eye.”
Reaffirming the importance of the program, Assistant Professor of Economics Adam Galambos commented, “The perspective that alumni bring to students through those events complement what we teach them in the classroom.”
Similarly, Vice President for Alumni, Development and Communications Cal Husmann summed up the importance of the program by saying, “The Lawrence Scholars program is the product of the type of creativity, collaboration, and visionary thinking that happens at the college every day. Our alumni are fiercely loyal and grateful for their education. As such, it really shouldn’t be surprising that they would be dedicated to helping our students in this manner. Lawrence University very much appreciates the recognition of this award from CASE.”