Two JU Grads earn Florida Times-Union EVE Award honors

Two Jacksonville University alumni, both with connections to the arts community and with backgrounds in education, were honored recently with 2012 EVE Awards by The Florida Times-Union.

Bolles School art history teacher Cindy Edelman, who received her master’s degree in teaching from JU in 1997, won the EVE Award in Volunteer Service. Cummer Museum Director Hope McMath, who earned a bachelor of fine arts in 1992 and master’s degree in teaching in 1996, both from JU, received the EVE Award in Employment.

The awards, created by the Times-Union in 1969, honor achievements of women in education, volunteer service and employment during the previous year.

Edelman, who helped create and now chairs the nonprofit Jacksonville Public Education Fund, was honored for working to boost public schools. According to a story published in the Times-Union, she worked with the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens to create the “One in Three: Solve Our Dropout Crisis” exhibit, which highlights the fact that one in three Jacksonville students don’t graduate on time or at all.

Edelman worked on the project with McMath, who told the newspaper that “It was ultimately (Edelman’s) idea that the arts could change the conversation about education.”

Philanthropist and former Jacksonville Jaguars co-owner Delores Barr Weaver nominated Edelman, telling the Times-Union she’s been impressed with her commitment to education. “It’s something that I feel is so important to the community,” Weaver told Times-Union reporter Sandy Strickland.

Meanwhile, McMath was honored for the change she’s brought to the Cummer, specifically by shifting the notion that the museum is “only for the elite,” according to a Times-Union article. She’s also guided a new strategic plan and put in place programs for more than 120,000 children and adults annually.

Among other things, McMath created a partnership with the Mayo Clinic that places artists in residence there and provides lecturers for patient, caregiver and family programs, the Times-Union said. The Cummer has had a run of three years of fiscal stability as well.

“She is truly a visionary. McMath has taken the Cummer to a new level in terms of leadership and opening it up to everyone,” Cindy Edelman was quoted in the newspaper.