Amy Young, assistant professor of German, was awarded the 2012 Best Advisor Award from the Student Secular Alliance at their annual conference in Columbus, Ohio. Young has been the faculty advisor of the college’s SSA group since it began in the fall of 2010.
“It was a real honor to be chosen for the award,” said Young. “I’m grateful to the leaders and members of the SSA. Working with such an engaged and thoughtful group of students makes advising a pleasure.”
At the conference, Young gave a presentation entitled “Encouraging Inter-Group Cooperation.” The speech emphasized getting together with other groups on campus to diminish some of the negative perceptions groups have about each other.
Earlier this year, Young’s SSA group teamed up with Campus Ministries to dismantle a house so that they could donate the parts to Habitat for Humanity. She hopes to get group members to work outside of their comfort zones with people who might not have the same beliefs.
“I am left with this overwhelming sense of gratitude that I had the opportunity to be a part of this, because I felt like it shifted things meaningfully on my campus in a good direction,” says Young. “My sense is that students felt that way as well.”
