The Indiana University Alumni Association (IUAA) gathered last evening for their annual IUPUI Alumni Leaders Dinner to show appreciation for alumni and volunteer leaders and their contributions to the IUPUI campus and its alumni programs. Three of these alumni leaders were from the IU School of Liberal Arts.
Career Achievement Award
Given for outstanding accomplishments in their professions and in service to the school, IUPUI, and the Indianapolis community, Dr. Ryan Logan was honored with the IU School of Liberal Arts Career Achievement Award. Logan has built an impressive career, marked by his passion for Applied Anthropology and his dedication to the students in his field. Dr. Logan completed his BA in the Department of Anthropology at the IU School of Liberal Arts in 2012 as well as his MA in 2014. He went on to an MPH/PhD program at the University of Southern Florida (USF), earning both degrees in 2019, and has become a tenured line Assistant Professor at California State University-Stanislaus.
Dr. Logan’s anthropology research and love for teaching students allows him to combine those efforts to take on some of our most important social issues in society today.
While completing his MA, he served as a Service-Learning Assistant for the Field Work in an Ethnography course, guiding younger students through their first research experiences. Logan’s PhD thesis at USF focused on the role that community health workers play in Central Indiana in delivering essential services to underserved Latinx communities.
This project continues to bring him back to his home state of Indiana frequently and he doesn’t pass up the opportunity to guest lecture and lend his expertise some very fortunate anthropology students. He loves to share his ongoing research, what’s happening in the field of Medical Anthropology, and career opportunities in the discipline to today’s liberal arts students.
In addition to several peer-reviewed articles, Ryan Logan is anticipating his new publication entitled, Boundaries of Care: Community Health Workers in the United States, which identifies serious challenges community health workers face in the context of the coronavirus pandemic.
The School of Liberal Arts and the Department of Anthropology are proud of alumnus Ryan Logan―a wonderful role model and inspiration to the students from Indiana to California.
Distinguished Alumni Award
The Distinguished Alumni Award is the School of Liberal Arts’ highest honor. Ms. Mautrice Meriweather is recognized this year as an alumnus who has displayed an enduring excellence in her field while continuing extraordinary service to Indiana University and IUPUI.
Meriweather is a remarkable professional who has leveraged her liberal arts education to achieve great career success and to serve the Indiana University communities. In her role as Chief Talent Officer, she pulls in interns and serves on career panels for the School and IUPUI.As a life-long learner, she has honed her skillsets to achieve excellence in all her many leadership roles.
Ms. Meriweather served as a member-at-large of the IU School of Liberal Arts Alumni Board, and later was named president. During her two-year term as president, Mautrice led the Board in a collaborative strategic planning process to rethink their purpose and function, with the hopes of creating avenues to support the school through alumni engagement. She set up new committees to activate and engage alumni, and she established onboarding and mentoring practices for new members.
During Ms. Meriweather’s presidency, she led an effort to refresh bylaws to allow for a more diverse and active board. Board members are now developing a more meaningful connection to the academic mission of the school through specific programming and events targeted at helping students succeed and prepare for an array of career possibilities. Mautrice chaired the intern and public outreach committee on which she worked tirelessly with the School’s Director of Career Services to lay the groundwork for what is now the Career Communities class and alumni panel.
When her term as board president ended, Meriweather was elected to the IU Alumni Association executive council, where she plays a pivotal role in reshaping the overall governance process and strategic approach to alumni engagement.
In these two extraordinary roles, Mautrice Meriweather has put her mark on establishing new visions for the exceptional alumni base of Indiana University and the School of Liberal Arts congratulates her achievements.
Maynard K. Hine Award
The IU School of Liberal Arts is excited to congratulate Dr. Tiffany S. Kyser, an IU School of Liberal Arts English Master’s Graduate of 2010, was awarded the Maynard K. Hine Award. The Hine Award, given annually since 1974, was named for the first chancellor of the IUPUI campus, and it recognizes alumni and volunteer leaders for their contributions in support of the campus and its alumni programs.
Dr. Kyser is an educator with more than 18 years’ experience across the entire spectrum of education—from K–12 teaching to higher education administration. Her work has been rooted in educational policy, adult learning, and change management. She has received numerous awards and accolades, including Indy’s Best and Brightest Award for education and nonprofit, NCAA Indiana Woman of the Year, Ebony magazine’s Power 100, Indiana Business Journal’s Forty Under 40, and appointed to the Stanley K. Lacy Executive Leadership Series, Class XLIII. In recognition of her illustrious four-year basketball career at IUPUI—where she finished as one of the top players in the women’s basketball program’s history—her jersey, No. 44, was retired in 2004, and she was inducted into IUPUI Athletics Hall of Fame in 2008.
Kyser currently serves as associate director for engagement and partnerships at the Midwest and Plains Equity Assistance Center within the Great Lakes Equity Center. She has served on numerous boards and committees, including the IUPUI School of Education Alumni Advisory Council, IU Health’s Virtual Care Patient & Family Advisory Council, the IUPUI Alumni Council, and the IUPUI School of Liberal Arts Alumni Board.
Dr. Ryan Logan, Ms. Mautrice Meriweather, and Dr. Tiffany Kyser are all shining examples of the power of a liberal arts education. The Indiana University School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI, the IU Alumni Association, and the entire IUPUI community congratulates them looks forward to following their bright futures.
