UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — James W. Dunn, professor of agricultural economics in the College of Agricultural Sciences, is the 2015 recipient of the Barash Award for Human Service.
For more than 20 years, Dunn has been volunteering in a wide range of human service activities devoted to enhancing life in the Centre Region. He’s made significant contributions to helping the Boys Scouts of America, the region’s parks, State College Friends School and the local bird population, among others. Recently, Dunn began serving on the Centre Region Parks and Recreation Authority Board, a group that oversees the region’s 54 parks, two swimming pools, a senior center and the Millbrook Marsh Nature Center.
In Scouts, Dunn serves as treasurer of Troop 31. He’s seated on the finance committees of the Nittany Mountain District and the Juniata Valley Council, the latter serving more than 2,000 kids across a four-county area with a budget of more than $600,000. For several years, he’s advised the campus organization National Agricultural Marketing Association, which provides financial and academic support to students interested in the agriculture business.
At the State College Friends School, he’s served for many years as a member of the development committee, the school board as well as the finance committee. There, he’s strengthened the school’s efforts to raise operating money and provided guidance for future fundraising.
His passion for birding has even benefited the community. He’s completed considerable fieldwork including bird census studies for the National Audubon Society, which helps states track declining and expanding bird populations.
A nominator said Dunn is “a modest person who is reluctant to put himself forward for awards” but that his peers regard him, for his record of service beyond the university, as deserving of the honor.
Created in 1975 by the family of the late Sy Barash, the Barash Award for Human Service honors a full-time member of the faculty or staff or student body on the University Park campus who, apart from his or her regular duties, has contributed the most to human causes, public service activities and organizations, or the welfare of fellow humans.