Missouri Humanities Awards Honor Outstanding Missourians and Missouri Organizations

Published: 04/19/2012

Each year the Missouri Humanities Council celebrates the accomplishments of people who have made exceptional contributions to the understanding of Missouri, its people and its stories. The awards ceremony also recognized four Missouri residents and one organization that displayed exemplary community achievement, one Missouri resident demonstrating excellence in education and four Missouri residents honored for distinguished literary achievement.
 
“There are a great many people in Missouri who are doing important and innovative work in the humanities,” said Geoff Giglierano, Missouri Humanities Council executive director. “These people however, are doing truly remarkable work—the Missouri Humanities Awards program is not only the means for recognizing the recipients’ outstanding work, it is an opportunity for the rest of us to be inspired and motivated to emulate their efforts.”
 
Jones’s vision and dedication helped establish St. Charles Community College in 1986. Jones served on the statewide Department of Higher Education committee that developed a common general education transfer curriculum for the state’s community colleges. Her leadership in developing and supervising the college’s semester abroad program at Canterbury, England, continues to give students rich opportunities for personal growth and greater global understanding.
 
The additional honorees included:

• Dr. Robert Baum
• Dr. Mary Barile
• Pastor Earnestine Blakley
• Cathy Barton and Dave Para
• Shakespeare Festival St. Louis
• Brian Grubbs
• Kimberly Harper
• Dr. Silvana R. Siddali
• Dr. Jeffrey Smith

About the Missouri Humanities Council
The Missouri Humanities Council was founded in 1971 as an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Its purpose is to promote and support the humanities—areas of study that include history, languages, literature, law, religion, and philosophy-- and to foster a more civil literate and thoughtful society. It does so by assisting local museums and libraries, civic organizations by fostering partnerships and by offering grants and consulting services to help make their programs more dynamic, engaging, and successful. Additionally, the MHC also offers programs of its own to encourage the discussion of literature among certain target audiences such as medical professionals, and works to promote reading for families with young children throughout Missouri. The Council also sponsors the annual Missouri Humanities Awards, which recognizes individuals and organizations for their outstanding contributions in the humanities. More information about the many projects of MHC can be found on the Council website at www.mohumanities.org or by calling 1-800-357-0909.