The Utah Humanities Council (UHC) held its annual Human Ties Celebration on Friday, February 2nd, in the State Room in the East Building of the Utah State Capitol complex.
The annual event recognizes Utah citizens who have made outstanding contributions to the advancement of the humanities. At the event, Dr. Kathryn MacKay and other award recipients were honored for their distinguished service to the humanities.
The celebration took place before state legislators. A dinner honoring the awardees was also held the same evening at the Alta Club in Salt Lake City.
Kathryn's Contribution
Kathryn MacKay is a true public humanities scholar. In addition to shepherding countless Weber State University students through the process of becoming public historians in their own right, she has helped local museums design historical exhibits, facilitated book discussions at libraries around the state, and served this year as the primary scholar for the Utah tour of the new Smithsonian Museum on Main Street exhibit, Between Fences. MacKay has worked tirelessly to help Utahns tell their stories and understand how their experiences fit into the history of their local communities, the state, the nation, and the world.
The Utah Humanities Council presented 2007 Humanities Awards to individuals who conducted exemplary UHC-funded projects. These endeavors included projects that coordinated community discussions, sponsored festivals, promoted the humanities, compiled oral histories, and encouraged dialogue in communities.
Robert K. Avery and SueAnn Martell
Helper: People, Persistence, and Promise Oral History Project
Salt Lake City and Helper
Working with six student film producers from the University of Utah, Robert Avery, Professor of Communications at the University of Utah, and SueAnn Martell, director of the Western Railroad and Mining Museum in Helper, produced a documentary film that was broadcast on KUED-TV, Helper: People, Persistence, and Promise, and presented at a town hall discussion of the film in Helper.
Reverend Ian D. Corbett
San Juan County
Since his arrival in Bluff almost five years ago, British-born Ian Corbett has become a true community leader. He has built strong relationships with the Navajo residents and parishioners of the Utah section of the Navajoland Mission Area. More than just the resident priest of St. Christopher’s Episcopal Mission, he is an educator, program and event planner, and grant writer who has worked with UHC to bring speakers, programs, and discussion leaders from around the state to San Juan County.
Kathi Irving
Motheread/Fatheread Family Literacy Program
Vernal
The Uintah Basin has had an active Motheread/Fatheread program since 2000. Irving was trained as a facilitator in October 2005, and uses the curriculum with parents of Vernal’s Even Start program and with English as a Second Language students. Her classes are thoughtful, lively, and well attended. She is making a difference—helping families improve their children’s school readiness, increase the amount of reading in the home, and develop communication and critical thinking skills.
Bonnie Percival and Douglas Alder
Santa Clara-Virgin River Flood Oral History Project
St. George
This oral history project highlighted the economic, social, and emotional impact of the “Flood of 2005” on Washington County communities. Thanks to Percival and Alder, nearly 140 stories of people who experienced the flood were collected, transcribed, reviewed, edited, and indexed, and a live public program held at the historic St. George Tabernacle also allowed some of the people interviewed as part of this project to share their stories and discuss their experiences with others.
Eileen Hallet Stone and Randy Silverman
Road Scholars, Statewide
For more than ten years, this dynamic husband and wife team, both published authors and educators, has traveled throughout Utah as part of UHC’s Road Scholars program. A preservation librarian at the University of Utah Marriott Library, Silverman hosts a traveling “Preservation Roadshow,” and Stone, director of Common Ground Productions, Inc. and an oral historian, explores Utah’s diverse cultures and traditions. From Logan to St. George, their Road Scholar presentations have been among UHC’s most popular and well received programs.
