Veteran UW-Madison leader wins NAACP Award

Mary Rouse, former director of the Morgridge Center for Public Service, assistant chancellor for academic affairs and a longtime dean of students, received the 2012 Freedom Fund Award as an Unsung Heroine at the annual NAACP local branch dinner.

Rouse was honored for coordinating blood drives for those afflicted with Sickle Cell Disease.

Instrumental in starting the Morgridge Center, Rouse served as its director until July 2005. The center places UW–Madison student volunteers in programs, such as Schools of Hope, in order to promote the practice of public service.

“I am proud to live the mission of the Center, bridging campus and community through service and learning,” Rouse says.

“Mary’s indomitable energy and deep roots in our community continue to keep the Center on the cutting edge of community needs and relationships,” says Nancy Mathews, the center’s current director, professor at the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and a former director of UW–Madison’s 2009 reaccreditation effort.

Several other notable Madison figures also won awards including Michael Johnson, Gladys Blackmon Crawford, Brenda Gonzales, Will Williams and Milele Chikasa Anana.