A rare combination of highly regarded scholar and effective community activist, Barry Checkoway blurs the distinction between teaching, research, and service, and in so doing helps to redefine the meaning of university service.
Professor Checkoway successfully links his scholarly research with service activities in the areas of community organization and community development, social planning and multicultural practice, community participation in health programs, and urban affairs and neighborhood work.
His name is synonymous with community service and service learning programs at the University of Michigan. He chairs the University’s Task Force on Community Service Learning, and leads our efforts to create more community service opportunities on campus. On a national level, he worked with the Clinton administration to develop the AmeriCorps program and the Community Service and Service Learning programs. He is also co-director of one of the state of Michigan’s first AmeriCorps programs, working with the Michigan Neighborhood Partnership and the University of Michigan School of Business Administration, School of Public Health, School of Social Work, College of Architecture and Urban Planning, and Institute of Public Policy Studies in an interdisciplinary effort to advance community service.
Barry Checkoway is engaged in a sustained effort to reach out to the City of Detroit. His efforts and the work of his students touch the lives of thousands of Detroit-area residents, including community-based public health programs, strategic planning and project development with Hartford Memorial Baptist Church, and participation and planning for low-income neighborhoods.
Playing an important yet often overlooked role, Barry Checkoway works to create a forum for new ideas by frequently bringing people together for discussions at his home. His approach is highly personal, and he invests enormous amounts of time, without expecting—or receiving—either compensation or recognition.
For his unparalleled contributions in public service, his unwavering devotion to others, and his accomplishments as a scholar and educator, the University is pleased to honor Barry Checkoway with the Regents’ Award for Distinguished Public Service.
