Jim Graham, former station manager for KWQC-TV6 and current goodwill ambassador and president emeritus for the station, has been awarded the 2007 Governor's Volunteer Award in Iowa in the category of "individual volunteer's exceptional achievement or contribution to [an] agency/organization." The nomination for Graham, submitted by United Way, included the following excerpt: "Jim exemplifies the meaning behind his station's tagline 'The Station That Cares for You' as a tireless and enthusiastic champion for youth in our community. Through United Way, Jim Graham served as a founding member of the Success by 6 Governing Body, led a record-breaking United Way campaign, and currently serves on the United Way board of directors as a co-chair for the Successful Children & Youth Focus Team - all while serving in leadership roles with Boy Scouts and organizationally leading efforts to support the American Red Cross, Race for the Cure, Gilda's Club, Habitat for Humanity, Toys for Tots, Scott County Kids, and the Student Hunger Drive."

The federal Senate Energy & Water Appropriations Subcommittee approved $1 million for a flood-control project in Davenport in its Fiscal Year 2008 appropriations bill. The legislation is expected to be approved by the full Senate Appropriations Committee by the time you read this. It will then need to be passed by both the House and Senate before it becomes law. The funds will be used to complete pre-construction engineering and design activities and to initiate construction to provide flood protection to a water-treatment facility in Davenport.

Sean O'Harrow, PhD, will become the new executive director of the Figge Art Museum beginning August 20, 2007. O'Harrow, a U.S. citizen currently living in England, has been the development director for Catharine's College at the University of Cambridge, is an art historian with a strong background in business and finance, has taught art history and architecture at American and British universities, and has worked in several museums in the United States. He earned his undergraduate degree in History of Art from Harvard and his doctoral degree in History of Architecture from Cambridge, and his specific area of scholarship is late-15th and early-16th century English and French architecture.

By the time St. Ambrose University's May 13 commencement rolled around, students had put in more than 20,000 hours of service to the community during the 2006-7 academic year. SAU student service included a wide range of activities and projects. Ambrosians for Peace & Justice sent 15 students and staff to New Orleans to help in cleanup efforts at facilities for the elderly, logging nearly 600 service hours. Twenty others went to the David School in Kentucky over spring break and worked 800 hours teaching the school's students and cleaning and renovating its grounds. Thirty student mentors in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program spent more than 900 hours with their "littles" in a variety of activities that included pumpkin-carving, visiting the Davenport Fire Department, and attending sports events together. And St. Ambrose's Habitat for Humanity group logged more than 2,800 hours helping to build a house in Davenport and volunteering during spring break in Colorado and Arkansas.