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Nov. 15, 2006
Contact: Gordon Ovenshine: 724-738-4854;
gordon.ovenshine@sru.edu
SRU ART PROFESSOR
RECEIVES NAACP AWARD FOR HUMANITARIAN WORK
SLIPPERY ROCK,
Pa. – For local community service and teaching water
purification to villagers in Sudan, Iraq and Honduras, Slippery
Rock University art Professor Dick Wukich has received the
President’s Award from the New Castle NAACP. It is the
highest honor given annually by the New Castle
branch.
“I admire
him as a person who gives so much of himself,” Evelyn Ward,
New Castle NAACP president, said. “There are not a lot of
people doing the type of work he does, and the work often goes
unrecognized.”
Wukich, a
ceramist who started at SRU in 1968, volunteers at the I Care House
in New Castle, a facility offering services to low-income families.
His work with potable water purification systems in developing
companies has been showcased several times, most recently at a
three-day conference SRU hosted in early
November.
Through Potters
for Peace, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization that networks
potters and educators working to develop water filter systems
worldwide, Wukich has taught villagers in Sudan, Iraq and Honduras
to use a simple clay system to filter harmful bacteria and
chemicals from water. The ceramic systems are in use in Ghana,
Cambodia and Nicaragua, he said.
“The goal
is to create sustainable micro-enterprises that are able to help
solve the world’s number one health issue, access to potable
water,” Wukich said. “Much good can be accomplished by
people working together to promote positive social change. The New
Castle NAACP is a great example.”
Wukich teaches
pottery making at SRU.
#PN, PR, PgN
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