Provost Emerita Judy Muyskens has been awarded Nebraska Wesleyan University’s Roy G. Story Award.
The award — now in its 25th year — honors an individual or group of faculty, staff, students or volunteers who have significantly enhanced the national stature and reputation of NWU.
Muyskens, who retired from Nebraska Wesleyan last spring, was recognized for her work with the Association of American Colleges & Universities and its programs, including:
- Well-connected conversations on liberal arts education through her ongoing leadership in a range of higher education advocacy and professional development organizations;
- Connected NWU to a range of funding and research opportunities through these professional organizations and national foundations like the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
She was also recognized for helping NWU be selected for nationwide collaboration initiatives with outstanding colleges, including:
- Participation in the Institute on Integrative Learning alongside George Mason University, Bard College, Duke University and Wellesley College;
- Selected to participate in the Capstone and Signature Work Initiative alongside The College of William and Mary, Oberlin College and Bates College.
Muyskens’ strategic efforts to support development and implementation of the new Archway Curriculum also brought national attention to NWU, said President Fred Ohles. In 2013, the Archway Curriculum was recognized as a campus model and case study with the Association of American Colleges & Universities. In 2016, four NWU faculty were accepted through peer review to facilitate a roundtable presentation at AAC&U’s national meeting, “Infusing Liberal Arts Education Across the Curriculum.”
Ohles said Muyskens is also a consummate mentor citing her support of student athletes that resulted in numerous Academic All-America awards and her support of the prestigious scholarship program, which has brought national attention through the many students who have consistently won prestigious awards each year.
The award honors the legacy of Roy G. Story who graduated from NWU in 1919 and went on to a long, successful career with Texaco and Swift & Company, where he patented 50 inventions. The award is an enduring legacy of Story’s creativity and the value of the liberal arts education he received at NWU.
Previous Story Award winners include:
- 2015-2016 — Trey Bardsley
- 2014-2015 — Harry & Reba Huge Foundation
- 2013-2014 — Dr. William A. Wyman
- 2012-2013 — Archway Curriculum Process Team
- 2011-1212 — Global Service Learning (student organization)