PNC Chancellor Earns Education Achievement Award

WESTVILLE – Purdue University North Central Chancellor Dr. James B. Dworkin has been named the first recipient of the Indiana Mid-America Association of Educational Opportunity Program Personnel (IMAEOPP) Rozelle Boyd Outstanding Achievement Award for his continuing support of the TRIO programs.

TRIO is an umbrella name given to the U.S. Department of Education programs that seek to increase access to higher education and encourage the success of students who are disadvantaged or traditionally under served. The national initiative began in 1964 with the Upward Bound program, with Talent Search added in 1965 and Student Support Services in 1968. These three original programs were together dubbed TRIO, and while three new initiatives have been added through the years, the name TRIO stuck.

This is the first year that the Rozelle Boyd Outstanding Achievement Award was been presented. The award recognizes professionals outside of TRIO who have a long history of support for TRIO programs. The recipient is selected on attributes such as loyalty, empathy and compassion, professional involvement in broadening accessibility to underrepresented persons and a strong sense of inclusiveness.

Rozelle Boyd was instrumental in forming IMAEOPP, served as president of IMAEOPP and MAEOPP and a former assistant dean at Indiana University who founded the Groups Program which was designed to help students who, for a variety of reasons, may not be able to have the typical college experience.

There are 2,690 TRIO programs offered at hundreds of colleges and universities throughout the country, including the PNC Student Support Services (sSs) program. To be eligible for sSs, a student must be either low income, have parents who do not have a bachelor’s degree or have a documented disability and have a need for academic support. Gail Barker, PNC Student Support Services director, is IMAEOPP past president and chair of the awards committee.

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