The University of Massachusetts Amherst

Emily Devenney, MPP ’16, Honored with Academic/Community Transformation (ACT) Award

Devenney

Emily Devenney (MPP) was selected by the Community Engagement and Service-Learning (CESL) office at UMass Amherst as a recipient of the 2016 Academic/Community Transformation (ACT) Award.

The award recognizes student leadership, academic excellence, and community contributions through service-learning or community engaged research.

Devenney became involved with CESL as a first-year undergraduate student at UMass Amherst when she joined IMPACT!, a Service Learning Residential Academic Program (RAP). She subsequently enrolled in the Citizen Scholars Program (CSP), a two-year academic program for students committed to public service and civic leadership.

Devenney has been volunteering with The Literacy Project throughout most of her academic career. The Literacy Project is a Greenfield based non-profit that offers free academic classes in adult literacy and GED preparation to Western Massachusetts community members and was Devenney's service site while working with IMPACT and CSP for three years.

Additionally, Devenney has been a Graduate Assistant for the UMass Community Action through Leadership, Learning and Service (CALLS) since August of 2015.

In regards to the ACT award, Devenney discussed the overlaps from her undergraduate civil service with the Citizen Scholars Program (CSP) and CEPA with her graduate scholarship and community work. She noted how her civil service experiences assisted her in working on her capstone project for the Masters of Public Policy program. 

"A lot of what I learned in [the] CESL program overlapped with my undergraduate work with CEPA, and now complements my assistantship with UMass Community Action through Leadership, Learning and Service (CALLS). The dialogue methods I learned in CSP were useful and important for my interviews with clients of the Q Foundation's Senior/Disabled Subsidy, my capstone client," Devenney said.

Devenney received her Masters in Public Policy from the School of Public Policy on May 6, 2016.

SPP faculty member Ellen Pader (landscape architecture and regional planning) nominated Devenney for the award. 

The CESL office wrote in their announcement of the 2016 awards that it is "a tremendous privilege to receive the faculty members’ nominations and to hear about the incredible work being undertaken by our students that impacts their own learning, the learning of other students, and supports work of our many community partners throughout the Pioneer Valley."

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