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Distinguished Teaching Awards
David Domke
Erika Goldstein
James Green
John Peterson
Priti Ramamurthy
Barry Witham
Carol Zander

Excellence in Teaching Awards
Chia-Hui Huang
Steve Wolfman

Distinguished Staff Awards
Brian Davis & James Boeckstiegel
Gary Ausman
Felicia Hecker
Sandra Kroupa
Keith Ward

Distinguished Graduate Mentor Award
Thomas Daniel

S. Sterling Munro Public Service Teaching Award
Sergio Palleroni

Outstanding Public Service Award
Anita Ramasastry

Brotman Diversity Award
Business Educational Opportunity Program
Student Outreach Ambassador Program

Brotman Award for Instructional Excellence
Dance Program
Research Apprenticeship Program

Alumni Association Distinguished Service Award
Geoff & Judy Vernon

Alumna Summa Laude Dignatus
Donald Baker

UW Recognition Award
ARCS Foundation, Seattle Chapter

President's Medalist
Roy Chan

Sandra Kroupa, University Libraries

Distinguished Staff Award

Distinguished Staff Awards are given to staff who have made outstanding contributions to the mission of their unit or the University. They respond creatively to challenges, maintain the highest standards in their work, establish productive working relationships, and promote a respectful and supportive workplace.

Talk about an identity crisis.

Sandra Kroupa, a Distinguished Staff Award winner and 34-year veteran of the UW libraries, has grown (or regressed depending on who one asks) to the point where she questions the most basic element of her profession.

“Maybe 35 years ago if somebody would’ve asked me what’s a book, I would have had a definition,” said Kroupa, the only book arts librarian the campus has ever known. “I don’t have a definition now. My job is to collect all the things that somebody is calling a book and present them to the campus community and to the larger community and say, ‘OK, here’s something somebody thinks is a book. What do you think?’ ”

Some think she’s gone too far, teetering on the edge of blaspheme. She pulled out a small book with pages sculpted into a flowing mound to prove her point. The piece has a text and a cover but the pages have been folded so that it’s clear no one is intended to read the book — at least not in the traditional sense.

By claiming such an object is a book Kroupa has raised the ire of more than a few literature and creative writing students. But that’s just part of the job, she says.

“One young man was furious about this book,” she said, pointing to the sculpted pages of the smallish, well-worn piece. “He made an appointment with me just so that he could come in here and holler at me about it. He was really upset about this.”

That meeting ended amicably with the two agreeing to disagree. Years later she saw the man at Northwest Bookfest. They started talking about the book arts display and Kroupa was pleased to learn that his favorite piece was an abstract, conceptual piece. “I thought, ‘Well OK, another convert.’ ”

Not everybody on campus has been such a hard sell. She has a slew of ardent supporters, including her boss, who says the 11,000-volume collection she has compiled is a treasure.

“Sandra Kroupa has spent over 30 years building the Book Arts Collection at the University Libraries into one of the best known and most celebrated in the country,” Lizabeth Wilson, the director of University Libraries, said.

That’s true, but not the complete story. Kroupa has built the valuable collection with little money and lots of ingenuity. She estimates that for every dollar in value, she has spent 16 cents on the materials. She does it by contacting book artists in person, rather than working through dealers and publishers. She’s proud of her thriftiness.

“That’s one of the parts I absolutely love about my job,” she said. “For me, I really feel like being a state employee means being held accountable.”

Another benefit of going directly to the artists is the relationships she has developed. They have been rewarding for Kroupa personally and for the larger campus community professionally.

Although she considers herself merely a mediocre book artist, the personal contact with professionals has taught Kroupa a great deal about some of the cutting-edge techniques used to create these abstract messages. She uses that knowledge to inspire others. Lisa Hasegawa, a UW graduate and practicing book artist, is one of those who remains thankful for her interactions with Kroupa.

“In the years I have known Sandra, she has been instrumental in my success and my love of book arts,” Hasegawa said. “Through presentations and individual meetings, she introduced me to the vast amounts of forms a book can take. … Sandra has taught me that a book can be infinitely more than merely paper bound between two covers.”

Kroupa hopes to keep teaching, inspiring and converting others well into the future. Her goal is to put 50 years into the job. By then, she says, she may start to understand book arts.

“I don’t plan on retiring. I plan on dying at my desk, hopefully as a little wizened person.”

– Steve Hill
University Week