FRIEND OF THE UNIVERSITY Resident receives YSU recognition
Connie Knecht of Boardman is the ninth person to win this award.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Youngstown State University is awarding its 2005 Friend of the University honor to a long-time community volunteer.
Connie Knecht of Boardman will be the ninth recipient of the award, started in 1997 to recognize alumni, friends and donors who've had a significant impact on YSU.
Knecht will be honored at a dinner at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Butler Institute of American Art.
Knecht, a Warren native, is the wife of the late F.W. "Bill" Knecht III, a former YSU board of trustees member who died in January 2004.
She has been involved in leadership positions with a variety of organizations including the Youngstown Hearing and Speech Center, Paisley House, Mahoning County Juvenile Justice Center, Boardman Township Zoning Board of Appeals, Boardman Center Middle School PTA, Boardman High School PTA, Boardman PTA Council, Hospice of the Valley, Monday Musical Club and the Junior League of Youngstown.
She's served several years as secretary to the Mahoning County Republican Organization, and served a term as foreman of the county's grand jury, and as a member of the county's facilities review board.
Community service
Knecht and her husband received the Boardman Civil Association's Community Service Award in 1995, the Youngstown Hearing and Speech Center's Great Communicators Award in 1996, and the Civic Leadership Award from Leadership Mahoning Valley in 2004.
She received honorary life membership in the Ohio State PTA, won the Junior League's Woman of the Year award and was named the Outstanding Volunteer Fundraiser from the National Society of Fund Raising Executives of Eastern Ohio Chapter. She was the initial inductee into the Boardman PTA Hall of Fame in 1999, and received the YMCA Woman of the Year award in 2002.