Stephanie Springer, Principal Lecturer and Director of Internships and Career Readiness in the Department of Public and Applied Humanities, is the winner of the university’s 2026 Community Impact Faculty Award.
The award was presented by Campus Community Connections during the 2nd Annual Community Impact Symposium on March 26. This award recognizes faculty who have “significantly contributed to embedding community and engagement into a structural or institutional aspect of the University through policies or practices. The recipient must demonstrate a commitment to retaining and recruiting faculty, staff and students from various backgrounds, promoting equality of opportunity, and fostering a welcoming and supportive campus environment.”
Springer was honored for her leadership through the University of Arizona Internship Council, which began in 2017 as the result of a campus focus group and has grown into a campus-wide, cross-role body that brings faculty, staff and administrators into coordinated dialogue around internships—an uncommon model nationally
“Through sustained leadership of the U of A Internship Council, Stephanie Springer has strengthened the infrastructure that governs credit-bearing internships across the University of Arizona. As Internship Council Chair since 2019, Springer has cultivated a cross-campus community of practice that fosters trust, candor, and shared learning,” according to award nomination submitted by Matt Mars, Interim Head of the Department of Public and Applied Humanities.
Under Springer’s leadership, membership has grown 150 percent and transformed previously decentralized work into a connected system. By securing approval from departments across campus and key U of A committees, she clarified credit standards, strengthened faculty oversight and established equitable guidelines for paid internships.
“By reducing isolation and equipping colleagues to navigate complex internship issues with clarity and confidence, Springer strengthens professional support networks that contribute to faculty and staff retention and engagement,” the nomination said.
Springer designed the Applied Humanities career readiness and internship program and has mentored more than 2,100 students, guiding them through the process of finding, securing and completing internships and building the confidence needed to launch and navigate their careers.
“The phrase ‘Community Impact’ feels especially meaningful because the work being recognized is the result of many people who care deeply about building initiatives that strengthen and connect our university community,” Springer said as she accepted the award. “One of the things I love most about the Internship Council is that it brings together faculty, staff, and administrators from across the university who are all tackling similar challenges. While many of these efforts began independently in different corners of campus, the Council provides a space for collaboration and shared problem-solving, allowing us to exchange ideas, to support one another, and to strengthen internship policy, pedagogy, and practices for students across the U of A.”
Jacqueline Barrios, Assistant Professor in the Department of Public and Applied Humanities, was also a nominee for the Community Impact Faculty Award.
Also announced at the symposium were Community Group Awardees, including two College of Humanities recipients.
Harris Kornstein, Assistant Professor in the Department of Public and Applied Humanities, received the Disability Research Advancement Award from the Disabled Faculty and Staff Coalition.
Praise Zenenga, Head of the Department of Africana Studies, was one of three recipients for the inaugural Leadership Excellence Award from the Sankofa Faculty and Staff Association.