Nanette Mengel’s Impact Lives On With the Mengel Award for Communication

The School of Government is proud to announce Shelton “Shelli” Rebecca Latham as the August 2021 recipient of the UNC MPA program’s Mengel Award for Communication. This award was created to honor MPA students who distinguish themselves through clear, concise, and outstanding writing, as well as to pay tribute to the award’s namesake, Nanette Mengel. All MPA Students are eligible for the award, both on campus and online. 10% of MPA students are nominated each year, with one student winning the honor per cohort. Candidates are nominated by School of Government faculty members based on the student’s final portfolio’s submissions, which must exemplify excellence—not just in writing, but in storytelling.Nanette Mengel, the former School of Government faculty member for whom the award is named, began teaching at the University in the mid-1970s. Her first teaching position was the required communications course—just one credit hour at the time. Though a woman of small physical stature, Mengel made a big impression on each of her students in more than three decades she taught.Former MPA student and current faculty member Margaret Henderson recalls Mengel as a “thin, tiny woman… [who] wore Lands’ End Cotton Turtlenecks.” Despite her unassuming presence, she was emphatic about language and learning. Roger Stancil, graduate of the 1979 cohort, remembers her as “really connected and really focused on her students and what they might need in the future.” Mengel was known for her one-on-one teaching style, a technique that would have a lasting effect on students across campus.In addition to instructing at the School, Mengel expanded her expertise to teach communications courses across many of UNC’s programs. She always, however, “stayed steady with us,” Henderson noted.”[Nanette] loved the written [and] spoken word.”This admiration for the written word would keep her teaching the MPA program’s communications course for her entire career at UNC.  Dedication is a word which comes up often when discussing Mengel. Renee Paschal ’96 remembers, “What had the most impact for me was [Nanette] sitting down with each of us… [She would sit] down with me and [go] through [my paper’s] comments… [talking] through why it would be better to do X, Y, or Z.” Mengel’s students remember her individual attention and that passion for connection spilled over into other areas of her life as well.Roger Stancil ’78, former Chapel Hill manager, recalls that Mengel “often had parties at her house, where she invited people she didn’t know.” She often invited “people she encountered in her work on campus” to social mixers at her house to “introduce them to each other.” Margaret Henderson recalls that “she was really into connecting with us all on a personal level.” Stancil took note. In fact, he stated “Later in life, I did the same thing.”In 1995, Mengel was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumor. She passed away a couple of months later at the age of 62. She left behind many enriched lives and a substantial endowment, which continues to fund scholarships to the MPA program and builds on her legacy of connection. In 1997, the School established the Mengel Award for Communication to honor graduating students who embody the namesake’s admiration for language and passion for connecting.In the 25 years since its inception, less than 100 students have received the Mengel Award; however, much like Mengel’s one-on-one approach, this award is changing the course of public service one official at a time. Andrew Shoenig, MPA alumnus and 2019 Mengel Award winner, believes “the existence of this award underscores the role of communication in public service. So much of what we do as public service leaders is [to] listen and reflect back what we hear from our colleagues and communities. [Communication is] the foundation of moving from ideas to action.”UNC MPA seeks to be a program “clear, concise, and free of ambiguity.” We have Nanette Mengel and the Mengel Award to thank for this ideal and much more.   News story written by current MPA student Stephen Thompson 

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