June 4, 2009
Lauri Umansky’s feature article, Teaching & Mentoring, the 1-2 Punch, received a Bronze Award in the Feature Article category of SNAP’s 2009 Excel Awards. The award was presented at the annual SNAP Excel Awards Gala in Washington, DC on June 4. Umansky, associate dean and professor of history in the College of Arts and Sciences, wrote the award-winning story about Gregory Hazelwood ’98, who graduated from the history department at Suffolk and became a history teacher at Brockton High School. Passing on the lessons he learned while being mentored at Suffolk by Professor Bob Bellinger, Hazelwood has become an instrumental mentor himself for countless teenage students in his school.
June 11, 2008
The premier issue of Suffolk Arts+Sciences magazine received two national awards at the 28th Annual EXCEL Awards held June 10, 2008 at the Capital Hilton in Washington, D.C.
The magazine received the Gold EXCEL Award for the Most Improved Newsletter to Magazine category. “The Suffolk Arts & Sciences newsletter made quite a transformation. Its content, photos and inclusion of a range of alumni, students and faculty were simply beautiful,” noted contest judges.
The magazine was also selected as one of four overall winners to receive the EXTRA! Award for pioneering, cutting edge, publishing excellence. EXTRA! award winners are chosen from among the EXCEL winners for pushing the edge of the envelope further and taking bold chances to innovate in an ever-changing publishing environment.
“Anybody should aspire to create a magazine like this, much less go from a fairly ordinary newsletter to a publication of this quality,” said the EXTRA! award judges. “They show that they care about the reader. The photography is beautiful, and the perspective in the photos is notable. We appreciate the imagery and the message they are conveying. Looking at this magazine makes you want to visit the campus. It is compelling and inviting. It makes you want to go there.”
Sherri Miles, editor-in-chief of the magazine and director of communications for the College of Arts & Sciences at Suffolk, received the awards. “It’s wonderful recognition for the magazine, and for Suffolk University,” she said. “We set out to create an alumni magazine that didn’t look like other alumni magazines, and we did that.
“We also were determined to build a publication that reflected the level of pride students, faculty and alumni feel for their school, and not only can it be felt on every page of the premier issue, but it’s there again in the next one, because this connection to Suffolk is evident in every story, every achievement and project and program. The best part of the evening was the complete surprise of winning the EXTRA! Award and hearing the judges say the magazine is compelling, inviting, and makes you want to go to Suffolk. It means we succeeded in showing that the College is a very special place.”
Miles and Nicole Vadnais, assistant director of communications, attended the EXCEL Awards Gala. The annual awards competition, sponsored by the Society of National Association Publications (SNAP), recognizes and rewards the exemplary work of association publishers. The EXCEL program judges over 1,200 magazines, newsletters, scholarly journals, electronic publications and websites in the areas of editorial quality, design, general excellence, most improved and more.
“The beauty of our magazine comes from gorgeous photography from several area photographers, and inspired design by Seth Sirbaugh, an award-winning magazine designer in Maryland who consistently amazes us with his layouts,” said Miles. “It’s truly his work that got us here, because our publication wouldn’t be getting national recognition without the stunning work he did on this issue last year.”
The next issue of the annual alumni magazine will be available August, 2008. For inquiries and additional information, please visit our website: http://www.suffolk.edu/college/26423.html or contact Sherri Miles atsmiles@suffolk.edu.