June 8, 2009
Iowa State University students earn distinctions from AAFCS
Iowa State University's Family and Consumer Sciences Education and Studies Club has been recognized with two awards from the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences in 2009. Members of the student club include (from left); Lori McAlpin, Abbie Marsh, Jana Sadewasser, Emilee Szawiel, Vicki Gustafson, Rebecca Braet, Axton Betz (advisor), Brandy Rongved, and Karen Naig. Photo by Jaclyn Hansel. |
AMES, Iowa — The American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences (AAFCS) will honor Iowa State University students with a host of distinctions this summer – including two top prizes for their local organization and three awards for outstanding research by individuals as well as a national executive post. Students and recent graduates will be recognized for their efforts on June 25, at AAFCS’s annual conference, in Knoxville, Tenn.
Student club receives honors
Of the five key honors offered by AFFCS’ Student Unit in 2009, Iowa State’s Family and Consumer Sciences Education and Studies Club will receive two: the Standard of Excellence Award and the Community Service Award.
The ISU student organization has grown its dues-paying membership from three students in the 2006-2007 academic year to 25 students in 2008-2009. Club members recently donated school supplies for children from low-income families, collected books for a nonprofit family literacy project, and purchased provisions for women and youth shelters.
This is the second consecutive year in which the ISU student club has received multiple AFFCS honors. In 2008, ISU students received the other three key AAFCS Student Unit honors: Progress Award for outstanding club membership and activities; AAFCS Student of the Year (Karina Ostem); Outstanding Advisor (Axton Betz).
Ph.D. students’ research garners accolades
Valarie Betz, who has both a masters (2001) and a Ph.D. (2008) in family and consumer sciences education from Iowa State, will receive the Outstanding Dissertation Award from the Teacher Educators in Higher Education, a branch of AAFCS. Valarie Betz is a family and consumer sciences teacher at Central High School in DeWitt, Iowa. The award recognizes her dissertation on guidance counselors’ perceptions of high school family and consumer sciences programs. She will present a summary of her research on June 26 at the AAFCS conference.
Jennifer Murnane, who received a Ph.D. in family and consumer sciences education from ISU in 2008, will receive the Outstanding Student Research Award from AAFCS’s Family Relations and Human Development Community. The award recognizes Murnane for her dissertation research on cultivating and enabling knowledge in a nonprofit human services organization. Murnane is associate vice president of strategic initiatives at Bellevue University in Bellevue, Neb. She is also a senior research associate in BU’s Human Capital Lab.
Axton Betz, a doctoral candidate from Havana, Ill. who advises the student club, will receive the Jewell L. Taylor fellowship from AAFCS. The $5000 award is bestowed to five graduate students annually to support their study in family and consumer sciences.
Undergraduate student named to national office
Amanda Repp, a junior in family and consumer sciences education and studies, has been elected secretary of the AAFCS Student Unit. Repp will serve in the national post throughout the 2009-2010 academic year.
Contacts:
Axton Betz, Ph.D. student and academic advisor, Department of Apparel, Educational Studies, and Hospitality Management, 515 294-5930.
Bob Bosselman, professor and chair, Department of Apparel, Educational Studies, and Hospitality Managment, 515 294-7474.
Cathy Curtis, communications specialist, College of Human Sciences, 515 294-8175.
