CIE's Payne receives Community Spirit Award

Lindsey Payne (right) received the Community Spirit Award at Tuesday's CSSAC meeting. Denny Darrow, vice president of Human Resources, presented the award. Download image

Lindsey Payne, assistant director of service learning at the Center for Instructional Excellence, has won the 2016 Community Spirit Award from CSSAC and APSAC.

The award recognizes significant contributions of Purdue University staff employees to the life and welfare of the local community and its people. It is presented annually in recognition of outstanding service to the local community, society and humanity. The award is a joint effort by the Clerical and Service Staff Advisory Committee and the Administrative and Professional Staff Advisory Committee.

Payne, who also is an assistant professor in Environmental and Ecological Engineering, a standalone academic unit in the College of Engineering, volunteers for the Wabash River Enhancement Corporation and makes it a priority to work with students to design and implement water quality improvement projects; coordinate maintenance events throughout the community; assist with WREC annual green tour development and promotion; and promote urban green practice installation through outreach and educational events like Paint the Rain, Wabash Riverfest and the Go Greener Commission.

In 2012, as a volunteer with WREC, she helped obtain a $50,000 grant to install urban water projects such as rain barrels, rain gardens and native plants and trees in the community.

"Lindsey's efforts on behalf of the Wabash River allow WREC to engage with students in unique and meaningful ways that positively impact the Wabash River and the students' experience while on campus," said Sara Peel, director of watershed projects at WREC. Peel nominated Payne for the award.

As a graduate student, she developed a course at Purdue that let students practice what they had learned in the classroom. In 2013 her students worked with community partners to complete projects that would divert 837,822 gallons of water annually from storm water system and reduce nitrogen and phosphorus loading of the Wabash River.

She was named to the Top 10 Young Professionals Under 40 in 2015 by the Greater Lafayette Chamber of Commerce and featured as part of Purdue's 5 Students Who Move the World Forward in 2013. She received the Purdue University Excellence in Environmental Stewardship Award in 2013 and the Subaru of Indiana Automotive Inc. Community Activity Recognition Award in 2012.

Payne teaches Urban Water Projects (EEE 495) and Engineering Environmental Sustainability (EEE 355).