Dr. Meta Mendel-Reyes, director of Berea College’s Center for Excellence in Learning Through Service (CELTS), and associate professor of general studies, recently received the Woman of the Year Award for 2003 from the New Opportunity School for Women (NOSW).

The award recognizes “improving the quality of life for yourself, your family, and your community.” As CELTS director, Mendel-Reyes has promoted the involvement of students in the community though service-learning.

Mendel-Reyes and students in CELTS programs at Berea have worked on many projects with the organization, including accumulating data from surveys, assisting with recruiting, and one-on-one tutoring for GED classes.

Another project was a dramatic reading based on women who have previously graduated from the New Opportunity School for Women and their daughters who attend Berea College. This reading was meant to show the effect the school has had on the women and their families.

Based in Berea, the New Opportunity School was founded by Jane B. Stephenson, wife of former Berea College President, John Stephenson, in 1987 to improve the educational, financial, and personal circumstances of low-income, middle-aged women in the South Central Appalachian region. In the past 17 years, over 408 women have completed the School’s three-week residential program. NOSW programs also include career and education outreach and counseling. Graduates of the NOSW are now employed in areas such as social work, counseling, education, public relations, business, and healthcare vocations such as nursing and respiratory therapy.

" I'm honored to be associated with this group of women who have made so much of their lives in the face of daunting obstacles," says Mendel-Reyes.

Mendel-Reyes joined the Berea faculty in 2000. In addition to being the founding director of the Center For Excellence in Learning Through Service and teacher in general studies, she also is National Endowment for the Humanities chair in Appalachian Studies at Berea for 2003.

For almost 15 years between earning her her master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of California-Berkeley, Mendel-Reyes held service, organizing and non-profit administrative positions in low-income, multiethnic communities, working with migrant farm workers of California’s Central Valley to the factory workers of Silicon Valley. For the eight years before coming to Berea, she served at Swarthmore College as assistant professor of political science. Mendel-Reyes is also a founding member of the Invisible College, a national organization of faculty who are working to integrate service, teaching and research.

Meta Mendel-Reyes can be reached at (859) 985-3940.