Two Honored With Monteleone Award from Prairie State College

Prairie State College (PSC) recently honored Shelly Marks, school board president of Homewood School District 153, and Jennifer Artis, chief executive officer of the Southland Health Care Forum, with the 2012 Michael R. Monteleone Community Service Award. The awards were presented at the August meeting of the PSC Board of Trustees.

The award is named after the former trustee, who served on the PSC Board of Trustees for 23 years. It is intended to recognize a community member or members in the PSC district who have contributed in an extraordinary way to education through community service as either a volunteer or a community leader. 

Marks was honored for her work with the Homewood School District over the past 20 years, the last 10 as president. Under her leadership, the district cut its achievement gap to half of where it was in 2006. She specifically was credited for advocating early childhood education as a way to level the educational playing field for every student. The district also implemented a successful district-wide diversity program, Homewood SEED (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity). In addition to the award from PSC, Marks was presented the 2011 Thomas Lay Burroughs Award from the Illinois State Board of Education, recognizing her as "Illinois School Board President of the Year."

“Mrs. Marks has established an atmosphere of collaboration and trust between the district’s administration, board, and staff,” said Dr. Dale E. Mitchell, superintendent of Homewood School District 153, who nominated Marks for the award. “She is a highly visible, very approachable presence in the schools. Under her leadership, the District 153 Board of Education is a model of efficiency, transparency, and civility.”

Artis, a resident of Richton Park, was honored not only for her work with the Southland Health Care Forum, but also for her work mentoring in the community. She has helped form the Southland Health Care Forum, the CrossRoads Coalition, Southland Ministerial Network, St. Basil “Free People’s Clinic” in Chicago’s Englewood community, and the Southwest Community Health Center. She also developed the Foundation of the Family Health Society Clinic in Chicago Heights, established coalitions to address community health disparities, and works to obtain grants for community programs on health education and disease prevention, and promotes the programs. Artis also has worked as director of public affairs for Franciscan St. James Health, works closely with the Cook County Department of Public Health, serves as a trustee of Richton Park, serves as a board member with the South/Southwest Suburban United Way, and is an advisor with Governors State University’s College of Health and Human Services.

“The list of organizations Jennifer has assisted and continues to work with is endless,” said Karen Biesboer, resource coordinator for the Southland Health Care Forum, who nominated Artis for the award. “I feel she deserves the recognition for her work in the community, for mentoring people, and for developing organizations to meet community needs,” she said.