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News Release

Last modified: Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Hoosiers for Higher Education presents member award, scholarship

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 2, 2010

INDIANAPOLIS -- Indiana University President Michael A. McRobbie presented the Sue H. Talbot Distinguished Hoosiers for Higher Education Member Award today (Feb. 2) to Sara Laycock, an HHE community captain in Indianapolis. Also, the $500 Sue H. Talbot HHE Volunteer Award Scholarship was presented to IU Bloomington sophomore Iris Summers.

The awards were presented at a ceremony in Indianapolis, in conjunction with the 19th annual Hoosiers for Higher Education Statehouse Visit.

Sue H. Talbot Distinguished HHE Member Award

This award was developed to honor the contributions of founding HHE director and current IU Board of Trustees member Sue H. Talbot. Talbot was responsible for the development and execution of the master plan that created one of the very first university-based grassroots organizations in the country. Due to her organizational and leadership skills, HHE became one of the "best practices" government relations programs in America.

More than 9,000 students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends of IU from throughout the country are now members of HHE. The award was established to recognize a volunteer member who has provided dedicated leadership in advocating for IU and higher education.

Laycock received her Indiana University degree from the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at IU Bloomington in 2003. Since graduation, she has spent her career working in the areas of economic development in Bloomington and Indianapolis. She currently works in economic and community development for the Metropolitan Indianapolis Board of Realtors.

Her volunteer leadership for IU and the IU Alumni Association includes service on the board of the Monroe County Chapter of the IU Alumni Association until 2006 and as an IU Bloomington student recruitment volunteer. She currently is president of the Central Indiana Chapter of the IU Alumni Association in Indianapolis.

Sue H. Talbot HHE Volunteer Award Scholarship

Iris Summers is pursuing a major in management from the School of Public and Environmental Affairs and a minor in Apparel Merchandising. She is a teaching assistant in the IU Apparel Merchandising and Interior Design Department and, since November, has been serving as a legislative intern in the Indiana State Senate.

Summers serves as the external philanthropy chair for the Phi Mu sorority and has been actively engaged in raising funds for organizations such as the Children's Miracle Network and Riley's Children's Hospital through her participation in the IU Dance Marathon. She has been selected as one of 18 SPEA students to travel to Seoul, South Korea, to perform research in public transportation.

Summers is from Valparaiso, Ind., and is the daughter of Stuart and Megan Summers.

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