David Cotter, assistant professor of sociology,
on Tuesday received the Faculty Community Service Award
from the Hudson Mohawk Association of Colleges and Universities
on Tuesday.
Cotter, with the College since 1995, was recognized for his
work in 2000 in leading 20 students in a nine-month study hunger
in Schenectady County.
The study found that while most of the county's
150,000 residents can afford to feed themselves, 18 percent – twice
the national average _ have reduced their food intake, skipped
meals or gone without food for a day.
The study has been invaluable to a number of
service agencies that have used the data to assess current and future need.
Commissioned by the Council of Community
Services of New York State, the study was presented March 15 –
National Hunger Awareness Day – in a news conference attended by
a number of county food providers and their clients.
“Doing community-based research and service learning
has a large number of values,”
Cotter said. “It gives students real hands-on experience in a real
research situation. For a liberal arts college like Union, it provides an
element of moral education: it allows students contact with a set
of people that they might not meet in their everyday lives, and it
gives them a better sense for their world and community.”
The award was presented by President Roger Hull
at HMACU's annual awards dinner.