WESTFIELD – Westfield State University will hold the third annual Horace Mann Award for Public Service ceremony on Thursday, February 27, in Scanlon Banquet Hall at 5 p.m. The award honors Westfield residents whose lives of service reflect the rich legacy of Horace Mann, founder of Westfield State, and the community service traditions of Westfield State University.
Each resident will be awarded with an honorary doctorate in public service by Westfield State Interim President Elizabeth Preston and a Westfield State Board of Trustee member.
“Each of the Horace Mann Award recipients embodies the spirit of selfless service and has a deep commitment to improving the lives of those around them,” said Preston. “During the 175th anniversary of the university, we are proud to again recognize those men and women in our community who, through civic engagement and community service, reflect the mission and long history of Westfield State.”
The 2014 Horace Mann Award recipients are Westfield residents Barbara Braem-Jensen, James Huffmire, and Barbara Trant.
Barbara Braem-Jensen has served as a board member for the Westfield State Foundation and the Westfield State College/Chamber of Commerce Leadership Development Committee. Braem-Jensen retired in 2004 after 49 years with Woronoco Savings Bank where she served as Vice President/Training Officer and as Executive Director of the Woronoco Savings Charitable Foundation.
Her past community service efforts include working as area treasurer for the American Heart Association, a member of the Noble Hospital Board of Directors, and a team member of the Westfield Division of the United Way. She currently serves as a trustee for the Amelia Park Foundation, a student interviewer for Southwick Regional High School, and a volunteer ambassador for the Carson Center for Human Services.
Braem-Jensen has been honored for her community service efforts before, most recently in 2011 with the Western Massachusetts Association of Fundraising Professionals Outstanding Volunteer of the Year and the Westfield Mayor’s Award which declared April 2011 Barbara Braem month.
James Huffmire is the only original member of the Westfield State Foundation with continuous service, having served since its founding in 1981. Huffmire is also the Foundation’s representative to the university’s Interfaith Committee. He is the former President of the Greater Westfield Chamber of Commerce and previously served as treasurer and trustee of Westfield Academy, helping to distribute grants to numerous charitable causes.
Huffmire helped raise thousands of dollars for both Noble Hospital and the Carson Center for Human Services. He is a 25-year member of Kiwanis and served on the committees for the St. Mary’s Church Scholarship Fund, the Citizen’s Scholarship Fund, and the Judge Graney Scholarship Committee.
Huffmire recently retired as the Senior Business Development Manager at Westfield Bank.
Barbara Trant is the founder of Volunteers in Public Schools (VIPS), an organization of over 750 volunteers who provide more than $250,000 a year in community service. Some of her efforts include Reach Out and Read (ROAR), a community reading program in the schools and Into the Arts Festival, a system-wide celebration of arts in the schools. In partnership with Westfield State, Trant has brought hundreds of local students to campus for theatre and musical events and helped produce Words with Friends, a city-wide spelling bee competition with the university’s Circle K club.
Trant is a board member of Westfield on Weekends (WOW), a member of Westfield Kiwanis, and a corporator for the Westfield Athenaeum and the Shurtleff Children’s Services Foundation. She previously served as a founding member of the Westfield Woman’s Club Foundation, a Confraternity of Christian Doctrine (CCD) teacher for St. Mary’s Parish, and as coordinator for the Nonprofit Volunteer Network of Greater Westfield.
Trant was selected by The Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women in 2009 and was named a 2005 Paul Harris Fellow by the Westfield Rotary Club.
