Top 10 for Homecoming 2010 - University of Montevallo

community.” Dr. Truss was selected as the keynote speaker for UM’s
fall commencement ceremony Dec. 18.
Amanda Fox ’04, senior departmental secretary in the department
of behavioral and social sciences, is the recipient of the 2009
Outstanding Staff Service Award.
Fox earned the B.S. in history with a minor in mathematics from
the University of Montevallo in 2004. She went on to earn the M.A.
in history from UAB in 2009. Fox began working for the department
as a student worker and was selected to fill the departmental position
when it became available in 2004. Since that time, she has proven her
abilities and genuine love for Montevallo, its faculty and students and
continues to do so daily.
Fox supports 16 faculty members in six disciplines, publishes four
newsletters per year, supervises a half-dozen student workers and
oversees two offices in separate buildings. She also assists the department
chair in preparing the annual budget, processes book orders
for all faculty members and insures the integration of adjunct faculty
into department processes. And by all accounts she accomplishes all
of this efficiently, effectively and with a smile on her face. Numerous
students echoed support for Fox, noting in case after case how she
has helped them, whether it was dealing with technology issues, class
registration, or, in one case, watching a three-year-old so that that
child’s mother could meet with her adviser to devise a plan of action
for degree completion that would also work around the schedule of a
busy, working mother.
In addition to her office responsibilities, Fox is a mother, is active
in her church and continues to take classes on a regular basis. She is a
member of the Higher Education Partnership and has worked on the
Alabama Poverty Project. She has been involved with Alabama Arise
and is a member of the Alabama Association of Historians.
Dr. Hollie Cost, associate professor of special education, is the
recipient of the 2009–2010 Faculty Service Award, presented by the
Faculty Senate. The purpose of this award is to recognize a professor’s
dedication to the provision of service and his/her impact upon
the University community. This person must have demonstrated
exemplary service to the University at all levels.
Cost was presented the award by Kristen Gilbert ’90, president of
the Faculty Senate, at the annual Founders’ Day convocation, held
Oct. 8. Gilbert’s remarks follow.
“Dr. Cost has a record of service that clearly demonstrates her
belief that her educational duties do not stop at the classroom door,
in fact, it is clear that she believes her duties do not stop at the gates
of campus, the city limits or even our nation’s border.
Hollie serves her students, the University and the community
through several endeavors. First, she has built upon a legacy of the
University of Montevallo by renewing our commitment to local
schools through the Montevallo Connection, a group that is committed
to identifying the needs at the University that can be met by
Montevallo schools and the needs at Montevallo schools that can be
met by the University. The Montevallo Connection encourages cultural,
educational and professional exchanges that will enhance the
educational experiences of students. On a practical level, this means
that Dr. Cost, serving as the coordinator, is hands-on, for example
organizing Future Falcon days that filled the campus with fifth, eighth
and 10th graders. She teaches one of her courses in the elementary
Hollie Cost (right), associate professor of special education, is the recipient
of the 2009–2010 Faculty Service Award, presented by the Faculty Senate.
Kelly Wacker, associate professor of art, was named the University Scholar for
2009-2010.
school and oversees tutoring programs that enhance the education of
her students and elementary school students. The list of important
contributions made by the Montevallo Connection goes on and on,
and Dr. Cost has had a hand in it all.
This belief in learning by lending a hand has extended into her
efforts to formalize Service Learning as a pedagogical tool here at
UM. Working with other faculty who utilize service learning in their
teaching, she is the coordinator of the newly formed Office of Service
Learning. Already, this inaugural semester, she has 19 students in 6
agencies across Shelby County working as Falcon Scholars in Action.
Dr. Cost has toiled in bringing this about, her efforts ranging from
spending her weekends lugging furniture into the new office all the
way to visiting students at agencies to assist them in any way that she
can and bragging on their efforts to anyone who will listen. Her aim
is to establish an easier path for other faculty who want to use service
learning in their classes and a way to formally recognize students who
go the extra mile, giving to others as they learn.
Dr. Cost is a member of 12 committees or groups on campus and
in the City of Montevallo, including Faculty Senate, chairing or serving
in a leadership role on at least six of those.
While this is an award for service to the University, with Dr. Cost,
service, work as an educator, community and life and are all intertwined.
Making it necessary, I believe, to mention that she is a twoterm
city council member and in this capacity she traveled, this past
summer, with President Williams to our sister city of Echizen, Japan,
representing the city, but undoubtedly representing the University
as well. She serves as the chair of the Sister City Commission, again
working with the middle schools to send students to Japan every
other summer and to assist families hosting students from Japan during
the opposing summers.
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