Pilar Prostko, program coordinator and facilitator for the program part of , has been selected as the recipient of the 2017 Anne K. Heinz Staff Award for Excellence in Outreach and Engagement.
The award, presented by the聽 at the annual Outreach Awards Luncheon on March 23, honors staff members who have demonstrated outstanding professional commitments to and success with community outreach and engagement initiatives. In addition to public recognition, Prostko will receive $5,000 to support CU Dialogues outreach activities.聽
The CU Dialogues program brings together diverse members of the CU Boulder and the wider Boulder community for facilitated dialogues that promote understanding through open sharing of perspectives and experiences to enhance course curriculum.聽
In her nominating letter, CU Dialogues Program Director Karen Ramirez wrote that Prostko helped grow the program from a model project when she was hired in 2009 to a program that now holds 30 to 35 dialogues per semester on a variety of topics. In 2016-17, the program held 58 dialogues in 23 differents units and departments, reaching 1,402 students and 78 community members both in and out of the classroom. This year, 77 dialogues are scheduled, including a dialogue that brought together self-identified conservative and self-identified liberal students to discuss the recent election.聽Prostko鈥檚 work in identifying partnerships has helped build the program into an important campus resource.
鈥淧ilar helps everyone recognize that students, faculty and staff members are all active participants in the university鈥檚 educational mission,鈥� Ramirez wrote.聽