This school year will be ending on a good note for Bob Rodda, Director of Student Activities, Summer Programs and Lowry Center at The College of Wooster.
On April 8, Rodda became the 40th recipient of the Association of College Unions Internationalís most prestigious award: the Butts-Whiting Award.
The honor was presented to Rodda at the Associationís 89th annual conference, where the winner of the award remains secret until its announcement during the closing banquet. ìThey work very hard not to let anyone know,” Rodda said.
The atmosphere of the banquet, Rodda remembers, was one of ìsuspense, until people began to find out clues about who will win.” Attendees spend much of the evening participating in personal betting pools over who might win the award.
The honorable award seeks to recognize exceptional leaders within the Association who have made valuable contributions to their College Union and student activities movement. Neil Gerard, who bestowed the honor upon Rodda, also received the award in 1996 for his work at Pomona College, a small liberal arts school in California.
The award is described as one that ìspotlights the accomplishments of the Association and thereby increases the pride of the staff and students who work with the college union program on each campus,” according to the Associationís Web site.
An eligible candidate for this award must be an individual who is not only active in the field at the time of nomination, but also has a minimum of 10 years working in the college union and student activities movement at their home institution.
The candidates must be described as someone who is entirely successful on campus, in their community and within the Association and work with an integrity that students and faculty on campus and members and alumni within the Association find admirable.
Rodda, who has worked in similar student activities positions at Augsburg, Carleton, Capital, Minnesota Morris and Ohio State, arrived in Wooster in 1990 and said it was a ìconscious choice to come back to Wooster.” The small size of Wooster and ability to focus on individual students and have the opportunities for larger efforts within the college and community has been a significant attraction of Wooster for Rodda.
The fact that Rodda is receiving this honor for his work at Wooster makes it especially exciting because, including Gerardís work at Pomona, there have only been around ìtwo to three winners at small schools,” Rodda said.
Rodda has been involved with ACUI with years and first heard about the organization when studying undergrad at Kansas State University. Since then, he has served on multiple volunteer and committee positions within the Association, including becoming the liaison to the Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education in 2002.
He is recognized as well through the Region 7 New Professionals Award, which is named in his honor. Rodda feels ìhonored and humbled” to have become the newest winner of the Butts-Whiting Award.