Two alumni have received Joseph F. Wall Sesquicentennial Alumni Service Awards of $25,000 each for service projects with their selected non-profit organizations.

The Wall Alumni Service Awards are named for the late Joseph F. Wall '41, a long-time professor of history who inspired an ideal of social responsibility in his students. The awards provide financial support for Grinnell graduates to engage in service projects, programs, and organizations that are dedicated to improving the lives of others.

The 2009 Wall Alumni Service Award winners are: Kirsten Anderson '00

Anderson will use her Wall Alumni Service Award to support her work as a William J. Clinton Service Fellow at AID India in Tamil Nadu, India.

The award will fund eight months of Anderson's work to implement a reading program to improve the English language skills of disadvantaged primary school students. Allison Shaw '98
Shaw will use her Wall Alumni Service Award to implement a reforestation project in El Salvador. She is currently based in Ft. Collins, Colo., with the organization Trees, Water & People.

The grant will allow the group to partner with The Equilibrium Fund to teach Salvadoran women how to produce Maya Nut trees and increase use of a fuel-efficient stove. The Wall Alumni Service Awards are open to all graduates of Grinnell College with a service commitment to benefit others. Since the awards were established in 1996, more than $500,000 in funding has been awarded to 29 projects.