College Bookstore Director Barbara Racine Honored with Aspen Award

 

OBERLIN, OHIO — Barbara Racine, director of University of Puget Sound Bookstore in Tacoma, Wash., has been presented with the Aspen Award in recognition of her lifelong contributions to the industry by the National Association of College Stores (NACS).

Racine described receiving the award as “a total surprise and a huge honor.” The award was made during a ceremony at CAMEX 2017 in Salt Lake City, Utah. CAMEX is the campus store industry’s largest education and tradeshow event and attracts representatives from many of the nearly 4,000 North American campuses and 1,000 bookstore suppliers represented by NACS.

The Aspen lifetime achievement award was created in 2005 and recognizes a professional in the campus store industry who has made continuous, notable contributions to education and professional development. The award was named for the Aspen tree, which is one of the most resilient trees on earth. It is invigorated by disruption and provides shade to allow plants beneath it to thrive.

A devoted industry volunteer, Racine has served on the boards of both NACS and its subsidiary NACSCORP, now a part of indiCo. Over the years she has contributed to numerous NACS education programs and served on content review and research committees. She was a member of the CAMEX program committee and of the NACS Education Committee for five years—including one year as committee chair. Also an active member of the Northwest College Bookstore Association, she has served as meeting chair four times.

 

“Barbara Racine exemplifies strength of community, working together, sharing knowledge, building unity,” said Loreen J. Maxfield, 2017–18 NACS board president and director of retail operations for UIC Bookstore, University of Illinois at Chicago. We are all better for knowing, and volunteering and working with Barbara, and NACS is a better organization because of her generous commitment and leadership.”

The National Association of College Stores: Headquartered in Oberlin, Ohio, NACS is the professional trade association of the $10 billion campus store industry. NACS provides education and other resources that help its member stores support student success, the campus experience, and the academic missions of higher education institutions. The association represents all campus stores, which include nearly 4,000 campuses in the U.S. and Canada, and approximately 1,000 industry-related companies that supply course materials and other merchandise and services to campus stores.

Press photos of Barbara Racine are available upon request.
Photos on page: From top right: Barbara Racine; Logger sweatshirts in the campus bookstore display window; The campus bookstore

Tweet this: Lifetime award from @NACSorg, rep of college bookstores, to Barbara Racine, director @univpugetsound. Congrats!!! http://bit.ly/2n47cz8

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