Doctoral candidate Noah Lenstra (MS ’09, CAS ’11) was recently honored with the University of Illinois Campus Award for Excellence in Public Engagement. One of six award recipients for the 2014-2015 academic year, Lenstra was recognized for his work in community informatics, specifically in Champaign and East St. Louis.
Lenstra has worked closely with Champaign’s African-American community to collect and digitize local history through a project that placed 60,000 documents, 30,000 photos, and 7,000 hours of video online. He was also instrumental in the efforts to preserve the Katherine Dunham Archives located in East St. Louis, Illinois. The archives document Dunham’s contributions as a dancer, scholar, activist, and leader in the African-American community. The materials were highly endangered, located in abandoned buildings and beginning to disintegrate.
“Noah has a nine-year track record of public engagement leadership at Illinois. He is the best-known student at Illinois among those working in community informatics, a vital field for community engagement. His careful and indefatigable approach has drawn attention on and off campus, most recently in the form of a year-long Bailey Fellowship, awarded by the University YMCA of Champaign Urbana for sustained community activism and leadership,” said Associate Professor Kate Williams, who nominated Lenstra for the award.
Lenstra’s dissertation focuses on how community-based institutions support older adults learning new technologies. He is collecting data in Champaign-Urbana public libraries and senior centers and participating in computer training programs at these institutions.
"I feel incredibly honored to have received one of this year's public engagement awards,” said Lenstra. “This award reflects an incredible amount of work from an amazing group of people, including many past and present GSLIS students, community members, LIS professionals, and my advisers and mentors Kate Williams and Abdul Alkalimat. I would not have received this award were it not for the amazing commitment and time from members of the public who have participated in the projects I have led in Champaign-Urbana, East St. Louis, and throughout Illinois. The structures of the Community Informatics Research Lab and infocityCU provide the context, support, and guidance of the work that led to this award. I look forward to continuing to combine public engagement, research and teaching in my future work."