Chancellor’s assistant receives Distinguished Service Award

The National Association of Presidential Assistants in Higher Education (NAPAHE) awarded Special Assistant to the Chancellor Blake Fry the Distinguished Service Award in March.
Fry has been at UW-River Falls since August 2005 when he started as the Dean of Student Development and Campus Diversity. He moved to his current position in 2007 where he has been a part of NAPAHE since.

“I had been Special Assistant to the Chancellor for one month when I went to my first conference,” Fry said.

NAPAHE is a 600-member organization in the United States, Canada and Great Britain that has been around since 1986. Fry has played many roles in the organization, such as National Conference Chair, Chair of the Board and Treasurer.

“I feel privileged to work with as many people as I do,”  Fry said. “I get to connect with a lot of different people on campus and the community.”

According to the University website, Fry received his Bachelor’s of Arts degree in political science from Wichita State University in 1994 and then his Master’s of Arts in Higher Education Administration at the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 1997. In 2002, he earned his Master’s of Business Administration and General Management at Avila University. He also received his Doctor of Education in High Education degree at Oklahoma State University in 2008.

“What I’m working on changes so frequently that I have to be able to adapt to change,” Fry said. “One meeting I might attend might be completely different from the next one.”

Fry explained that no two days are the same for his job and he does a variety of tasks ranging from overseeing projects such when he helped with the planning and launching of the Hudson Center to helping prepare presentations for Chancellor Dean Van Galen. He also oversees media, government and community relations, as well as integrated marketing and the University Communications. Fry oversees graphic design, video production, photography, marketing and also Fast Copy as well.

“Blake is a very high energy and enthusiastic person that brings great ideas to the table,” Van Galen said.

Van Galen has worked with Fry since he started at UWRF in 2009 and said that although Fry plays a behind the scenes roll, he has a big impact on campus. He said Fry does a good job balancing the tasks he has to do and maintaining a positive impact throughout each year.

“He’s especially effective at launching and moving projects forward,” Van Galen said.
Van Galen was in Washington, D.C., at the time the award was presented to Fry and was honored to be able to attend he luncheon where Fry accepted the award.

“It was an honor to be present when he was honored by NAPAHE,” said Van Galen. “It was a very positive view on not only Blake, but also UW-River Falls.”