91制片厂 Honors 2018 Talon Award Recipients
From left to right, Kevin Wagner, J.D., Ph.D.; Kira Wolack; Robin Rubin, 91制片厂 President John Kelly; Barbara Schmidt; Meghan DeFord, assistant vice president of alumni and community affairs at 91制片厂; and Pablo Paez, chair of the 91制片厂 Alumni Association Board of Directors. (Photo by Alex Dolce)
91制片厂 recently hosted its annual Talon Leadership Awards ceremony as part of . Since its creation in 1997, the Talon Awards have recognized outstanding leaders from the community, as well as 91制片厂 alumni, faculty and student body constituencies. Co-sponsored by the聽 听补苍诲听 , the ceremony and reception took place at 91制片厂 Tech Runway on 91制片厂鈥檚 Boca Raton campus.
鈥淭he Talon Leadership Awards ceremony allows us to recognize the outstanding Owls among us,鈥 said聽, assistant vice president of alumni and community affairs. 鈥淚t is truly a celebration of unbridled excellence that unites alumni, campus and community leaders.鈥澛犅犅犅犅犅犅犅犅犅犅犅
Honored at this year鈥檚 ceremony were Barbara Schmidt, businesswoman, philanthropist, and meditation and mindfulness teacher, with the President鈥檚 Talon Award;聽Robin Rubin, BSW 鈥07, MSW 鈥09, professor in the , with the Alumni Talon Award; Kevin Wagner, J.D., Ph.D., professor and department chair, in the聽, with the Faculty Talon Award; and聽Kira Wolak, an undergraduate student in 91制片厂鈥檚 , with the Student Talon Award.聽
Schmidt is a practitioner of mindfulness and meditation with more than 30 years devoted to spiritual and developmental research. She is the founder of Spirit of Giving Network and co-founder and past president of Ronald McDonald Children Charities of South Florida. Schmidt is the author of the internationally bestselling book, 鈥淭he Practice: Simple Tools for Managing Stress, Finding Inner Peace, and Uncovering Happiness,鈥 and founder of the nonprofit organization Peaceful Mind Peaceful Life. She has been on more than 100 retreats and studied with teachers around the world, including the Dalai Lama. She recently launched The Barb Schmidt Fellowship for Cultivating Community Involvement, Activism, and Social Change at 91制片厂, a program that aims to provide student leaders with a platform to develop the skills and knowledge needed to initiate, execute, and sustain a social movement.聽
Rubin teaches social work in 91制片厂鈥檚聽Phyllis and Harvey Sandler School of Social Work and is very involved in the Boca Raton philanthropic community. She has served on the foundation board for Boca Raton Regional Hospital, Hillel of Broward and Palm Beach County, the executive board of the Adolph & Rose Levis Jewish Community Center, South Palm Beach Jewish Federation, and Norman and Ruth Rales Jewish Family Services. She serves on the Boca Raton Regional Hospital鈥檚 Go-Pink challenge committee and on the Women鈥檚 Advisory Council for the Christine E. Lynn Women鈥檚 Health & Wellness Institute. Rubin founded the community advisory board for the聽Phyllis and Harvey Sandler School of Social Work and serves on the board as faculty representative.聽
Wagner teaches politics, in addition to acting as chair of the Department of Political Science in 91制片厂鈥檚 Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters. He also serves as faculty-senate president, and is a member of 91制片厂鈥檚 Board of Trustees. His work has been published in leading journals and law reviews including聽American Review of Politics, The Journal of Legislative Studies, and Politics and Policy.聽Wagner has presented at several national conferences and has lectured extensively on American politics. His recent work focuses on the effects of technology on politics and campaigning and he is currently completing a book 鈥淐lick and Reboot: How the Internet is Revolutionizing American Politics.鈥 He also serves as a leading political science expert for various media outlets across the world.
A 2017 graduate of , Wolack will receive a dual-degree in accounting and English from 91制片厂 in December at the age of 19, while earning a 4.0 GPA. She will start her graduate studies in accounting at 91制片厂 in January 2019. Wolack is part of the Accounting Scholars Program at 91制片厂 and is the community service director for Beta Alpha Psi at 91制片厂, an accounting honors society. She was named Undergraduate Researcher of the Year by the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters for the 2017/2018 academic year, and has an internship lined up at Ernst & Young for Summer 2019. Wolack currently collaborates with her faculty adviser to rally 91制片厂鈥檚 accounting majors in spreading financial literacy to foster youth through programs such as Educate Tomorrow and Guardian ad Litem of Palm Beach County.
For more information about the Talon Awards and the 91制片厂 Alumni Association, visit聽.
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