Penny Lyter: Faculty Distinguished Service Award

Penny Lyter is an associate professor in the Health, Exercise & Sport Management Department at University of Wisconsin-Parkside. She had helped create and implement three new majors at the university: Sport Management, Fitness Management, and Applied Health Sciences.

Throughout her career, Penny has focused on issues critical to student success at UW-Parkside: the nontraditional student, community-based learning, health promotion through healthy eating and exercise, and women’s status. While pursuing these goals, she has been a member of committees that have placed her in key positions to promote these causes.

Penny’s focus on the non-traditional learner is exemplary, working on committees that support both freshmen and adult learners. She is a member of the Civic Action Plan Team and is active on several committees that support community-based learning (CBL). In fact, she has taken on a leadership role on campus regarding CBL and conducts an annual CBL workshop to get even more faculty and staff involved in CBL. Her work on CBL has not only enriched her students’ learning and engagement but simultaneously benefitted the community through countless student projects. She has moved from developing policy to carrying out directives from those policies. For example, she participated in creating the Civic Action Plan, worked on the Strategic Enrollment Planning Committee and Retention Task Force. She participated in carrying out these plans as an active member on several committees related to CBL, the HIPS Leadership Team, the Provost’s Retention Task Force, the First Year Council and the General Education Steering Committee. To facilitate adult learners’ return to college, she worked on the Flexible Degree Option Committee and the UWP BAAS Sustainability Team.

Currently, she is on eight committees that promote women’s history, women’s studies and women’s status. In her College, she participated in the planning committee for Girls Empowered in Math and Science (GEMS). In the community, she has been a strong advocate for women, writing successful grants for the Women’s Resource Center and consulting with the Racine Girls Scouts and Big Sister, Big Brother of Greater Racine. In 2019, she received the Sister Jean Verber Award for her “dedication to the Women’s Resource Center.”

As a member of the College of Natural and Health Sciences, she has worked on the College Board, strategic planning committee and on the Dean’s Advisory Council. Her support of health and wellness is apparent in her work in her Department and University. While serving as Chair of her Department, she was a member of the Sports and Activity Center Policy Committee and Weight Room Planning committee. She was Chair of the Employee Wellness Committee, the Ranger Wellness Committee, and the Dining Services Contract Review Committee. She is a mentor to students both on and off campus.

She has given over 60 presentations touching on CBL, health and wellness, academic success, general education, and promoting women’s health and participation in the STEM disciplines. Her works speak to her values. She is dedicated to student success for historically underserved students (nontraditional students and women), to the welfare and health of all UWP employees and students, and to the means by which students can achieve their goals. Penny is one of those rare individuals who is always concerned about others and always steps up to help without having to be asked to contribute. Regardless of whether it is her department, college, the university, or the community Penny has stepped in tirelessly to give her time and expertise. It is for the aforementioned reasons that Dr. Penny Lyter deserves to be recognized for her service.

Congratulations, Penny Lyter!