Nominations for the Sarah Belle Brown Community Service Award are being accepted through Friday, Sept. 30.
Every year, the Sarah Belle Brown Award is given to one faculty member, staff member, and one student. These individuals must have contributed a great amount of personal time to the public service mission at The University of New Mexico.
If selected, recipients will receive $1,500 in cash. Nominations will be accepted until Sept. 30, but self-nominations will not be considered. To submit a nomination, visit Sarah Belle Brown Award nominations.
History of the Sarah Belle Brown Award
To honor his wife, UNM Board of Regent’s President and former dean of the Anderson School of Management Doug Brown created the Sarah Belle Brown Award. Sarah has devoted time and passion to community service over the last 33 years in New Mexico, a commitment that began in high school when she worked in the ER of Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles. She tutored elementary school children in Watts during college and volunteered as a Head Start aid in Marin City after graduation. Those experiences led her to become a teacher where she taught recently-arrived, Spanish-speaking children at LA City Schools. All subjects were taught in Spanish until the children learned enough English to study in their new language. In New Mexico, Sarah founded and managed a downtown café where she nearly always employed at least one homeless person and encouraged young employees to complete their college degrees.
Community service in Albuquerque and Santa Fe has been at the Board level, including currently the National Hispanic Cultural Center and Foundation, Tamarind Institute, NM Appleseed, The Lensic Performing Arts Center. Formerly, she served on the boards of Women’s International Study Center (WISC in Santa Fe), Amy Biehl Charter Highschool, CNM Foundation (formerly TVI), Mt. Vernon College Trustees in Washington, DC, Chairman of Children’s Home Society of California, chairman of Chinatown After-School Program for Cantonese-speaking children in San Francisco. Also, she was in the first cohort of CASA (Court-Appointed-Special-Advocate for San Francisco Juvenile Court).
When Sarah was a small girl, six or seven, her grandfather sat her down and told her she was “very lucky.” “Not everyone is as lucky as you,” he continued. “When you grow up you must share what you have and share your time with others.” She says she is still trying.
Although Sarah has a busy schedule, she still makes time for her family life; and makes certain to spend time with her husband and two grown sons.
For the Sarah Belle Brown Award, community service is defined as service which is outside of one’s professional or academic assignment at UNM. Faculty must be tenured or on a tenure-track, clinical educator or lecturer. Staff must be employed at least .50 FTE and passed the probationary period. Students may be undergraduate or graduate but must be in a degree program taking a minimum of 6 credit hours.
For more information and to submit a nomination, visit Sarah Belle Brown Award.