IU Center for Rural Engagement honors outstanding leaders for impact on rural communities

From left to right: Rossina Sandoval, Laura Littlepage, Sara Marshall, John Keesler, and James Farmer. Jeni Waters/Indiana University

FRENCH LICK, Ind. – At the 2025 IU Rural Conference, five exceptional individuals were recognized by the IU Center for Rural Engagement for their significant contributions to rural communities across Indiana.

These awards celebrate remarkable work in student engagement, community partnership, faculty-engaged teaching, faculty community engagement, and faculty lifetime achievement.

The awardees are:

  • Sara Marshall, Student Community Engagement Award
  • Rossina Sandoval, Community Partner Award
  • James Farmer, Faculty Engaged Teaching Award
  • John Keesler, Faculty Community Engagement Award
  • Laura Littlepage, Faculty Lifetime Service Award 

Selected through a nomination process by IU Center for Rural Engagement staff, each of these awardees exemplifies a deep commitment to empowering rural voices, expanding networks, addressing pressing challenges, and celebrating the unique culture and heritage of rural life. 

Sara Marshall | Student Community Engagement Award

Sara Marshall received the Student Community Engagement Award for her exemplary leadership, cultural awareness, ethical engagement, and contributions to positive community and scholarly outcomes.

A recent graduate from the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs Master of Arts in Arts Administration program, Sara was pivotal in forming and launching the Rural Placemaking Studio at the center. She supported 10 partners in developing creative placemaking designs in 2024 and helped bring in 16 partners for the 2025 studio.

Sara’s book, Creating the Crossroads: 100 Years of Civil Construction in Indiana, was published through the Indiana Historical Society Press in 2024. Her storytelling practice, influenced by her upbringing in Kosciusko County, Indiana, honors overlooked histories and bridges divides through thoughtful storytelling focused on shared experiences.

Rossina Sandoval | Community Partner Award

Rossina Sandoval received the Community Partner Award for her contributions to community initiatives through collaboration with faculty, community engagement and advocacy, cultural awareness, and ethical engagement through innovation and contribution of their expertise.

Rossina, the executive director of the ALASI Resource Center, was an early community partner for the center, initially collaborating during her time at Southern Indiana Community Health Care. Rossina led the Latinx Needs Assessment in Dubois County and connected IU with the Dubois County Museum’s Voces Vivas exhibit, resulting in a short film series on the rural immigrant experience.

As a driving force behind ALASI, an organization that removes barriers for the Latino community, Rossina partnered with the IU O’Neill School to develop the ALASI Resource Center plan and successfully opened the center within a year, serving hundreds of residents since fall 2023. She also fostered partnerships with the IU School of Public Health-Bloomington to launch the Hispanic Health Fair in Dubois County, providing health access for the Spanish-speaking community.

Rossina served on the community coordinating committee for Sustaining Hoosier Communities Dubois County, a two-year community-engaged teaching partnership between the Center for Rural Engagement and the community that yielded 31 community-led projects completed in partnership with more than 580 IU students.

James Farmer | Faculty Engaged Teaching Award

James Farmer received the Faculty Engaged Teaching Award for integrating community engagement into his curriculum, using innovative teaching methods, and collaborating with community partners for significant, lasting impact.

James is an associate professor in the O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Food and Agrarian Systems program director at the Ostrom Workshop, and co-director of the IU Campus Farm. He was among the center's first faculty partners and helped create Sustaining Hoosier Communities (SHC) initiative with a team of colleagues. Since the inception of SHC, Farmer has connected several classes with southern Indiana communities, including work with Lawrence, Washington, Dubois, and Knox Counties.

James is deeply involved in food systems work, partnering with organizations like the City of Bedford, Salem Farmers’ Market, Purdue Extension-Dubois County and the Knox County Health Department.

John Keesler | Faculty Community Engagement Award

John Keesler received the Faculty Community Engagement Award for demonstrating leadership, cultural awareness, ethical engagement, and innovation in community-engaged initiatives and student mentorship, leading to significant, lasting impact.

As an associate professor in the Indiana University School of Social Work, John was among the first faculty affiliates to join the center, bringing with him extensive practice experience in intellectual and developmental disabilities and behavioral health. He connected his graduate students with a Lawrence County project on the opioid crisis during the Sustaining Hoosier Communities initiative and launched a survey on community attitudes toward mental health and addictions.

John also partnered with the Indiana Rural Health Association to facilitate community education to reduce stigma around behavioral health issues and collaborated with Thrive Orange County to research Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in schools.

He is currently supporting the creation of mental well-being and community collaboration tools for the Ministry and Mental Well-being in Rural Areas in Small Towns Initiative. This effort builds on previous community-centered work, such as the free Trauma-Informed Care Certificate he developed that has garnered a reach of more than 6,000 participants and fostered a partnership with Goodwill Industries. He co-created the Creative Arts for Vets CAV Book, which has achieved a national and international reach, and supported the adaptation of an Arts for Youth book to support teen mental well-being.

Laura Littlepage | Faculty Lifetime Service Award

Laura Littlepage received the Faculty Lifetime Service Award for demonstrating leadership, ethical engagement, commitment, and scholarly contributions representing long-term impact and sustained, measurable positive outcomes for her partnering communities.

Laura is a clinical professor in the O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. With over 40 years of experience, Laura has partnered with rural communities on projects addressing homelessness and provided support for rural non-profits such as Romans Warrior Foundation and Sculpture Trails in Greene County.

She first participated in the Sustaining Hoosier Communities program in 2019, completing projects with the program nearly every year since. Laura developed human resource handbooks for organizations like Washington Community Schools and provided grant writing and volunteer management support for rural non-profits such as Romans Warrior Foundation and Sculpture Trails in Greene County.

Laura has led a distinguished career that included being a senior researcher with the IU Public Policy Institute, roles in state government, and publishing more than 15 peer-reviewed articles on service-learning and volunteerism.
The IU Center for Rural Engagement improves the lives of Hoosiers through collaborative initiatives that discover and deploy scalable and flexible solutions to common challenges facing rural communities. Working in full-spectrum community innovation through research, community-engaged teaching and student service, the center builds vision, harnesses assets and cultivates sustainable leadership structures within the communities with which it engages to ensure long-term success.