Kubow receives USAID Outstanding Citizen Achievement Award

Patricia Kubow, educational foundations and inquiry, has once again been recognized in Washington, D.C., for using education to promote democracy in Eastern Europe.

On Jan. 10, Kubow received the Outstanding Citizen Achievement Award from the Bureau for Europe and Eurasia of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The award was to be presented by Kent Hill, assistant administrator for Europe and Eurasia, who oversees USAID programs in 29 countries spanning the Balkans to Central Asia, including all the former Soviet Union countries.

The Outstanding Citizen Achievement Award is sponsored by USAID to recognize U.S. citizens who are making an exceptional contribution to international development through their work and volunteerism. USAID is a government agency that administers economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide.

Several BGSU alumni from the Washington, D.C. area were also invited to the event, and prior to the ceremony, Larry Weiss, associate vice president for University relations and governmental affairs, addressed a gathering at USAID. He also had arranged to accompany Kubow on visits to key legislators on Capitol Hill.

The honor was Kubow’s second from Washington in the past three months. She was chosen by President Bush for
recognition at the White House in October for her advocacy of democratic education in countries in which democracy is a new concept.

Kubow was chosen for the USAID award based on her participation, in 1999, in a major project in countries formerly part of the Soviet bloc to examine the role of citizens in their societies, and how the classroom can teach students the skills they will need to help shape the future. Her collaborators were faculty from the University of Toledo and Lourdes College; local educators and students in grades 5-8, and teachers and students in Hungary and Ukraine. Through the Internet, children and teachers in Ohio elementary classrooms communicated with their international counterparts to discuss and act on issues of global importance.

Kubow and UT's Mark Kinney also led an Institute for Democratic Education and Democratic Exchange in Szeged, Hungary, for 26 participating Hungarian and Ukrainian teachers. Participants learned how to create more democratic-oriented classrooms while remaining cognizant of each country's cultural and historical backgrounds.
In 2001, in recognition of her work in Eastern Europe, she received the Distinguished Research in Teacher Education Award from the Association of Teacher Educators.