USAO Students Honored by Census Bureau

Now that the U.S. Census is complete, several organizations throughout Oklahoma were honored for their work to make the nationwide count a success -- including the University of Science and Arts. USAO was honored as the most active university partner in Oklahoma in a June ceremony.

USAO received the recognition during the 2010 Census Partner Appreciation Award ceremony June 12 in the Governor's Blue Room at the State Capitol. The award recognized partners from faith-based, non-profit and community based organizations, Native American tribes, schools, colleges, businesses, and state and local governments throughout the State of Oklahoma who assisted with the census.

"Our participation in the Census was a service-learning project from the course 'Race and Ethnic Relations' that was offered in the spring," said Dr. Robert Edmondson, former visiting professor and service learning coordinator at USAO. "The course and the project were a tremendous success. The students worked hard and deserve this recognition."

Joshua Miller, a sociology major from Union City, received the award on behalf of USAO from Dr. Robert Groves, director of the U.S. Census Bureau and Dennis Johnson, regional director of the U.S. Census Bureau.

Other students involved in the project included Katie Arnold, a political science major from Seminole; Danielle Sims, a history major from Duncan; Danielle Fusco, a psychology major from Chickasha; Ryan Newbrough, a political science major from Chickasha; Jared Williams, a political science major from Oklahoma City; Keaton Aldridege, a business major from Chickasha, and Nina Lawrence, a political science major from Chickasha.

In addition to the class project, USAO provided space for meetings, distribution of public service announcements and announcements on university-operated electronic signage and social media sites, e-mail distribution lists and on the USAO television channel.