You don’t have to be a probation officer or a member of the Probation Officers Professional Association of Indiana (POPAI) to be considered for the organization’s prestigious Founder’s Award, according to President Don Travis. “The selected person, however, shall be characterized by a commitment of influence to and promotion of professionalism to Indiana probation.” The Founder’s Award recognizes individuals who have significantly contributed to the field of probation in general and specifically to the POPAI organization. This year, the Association determined that Indiana Judicial Center Executive Director Jane Seigel met those very special criteria.
The Founder’s Award was created in 2000 and past recipients of the award include the late State Senator Charles “Bud” Meeks, the Honorable Bruce Embrey, United States Probation Officer George Walker, and the late Tom Frederick, the St. Joseph County Chief Probation Officer and Juvenile Justice Center Director prior to his death in the late 1990s. POPAI awarded its 2008 Founder’s Award to Jane Seigel at its Fall Conference.
Ms. Seigel, Executive Director of the Indiana Judicial Center, was nominated by county chief probation officers Greg Werich (Wells), Robert Bingham (Marion), Donna McElroy (Owen), Don Travis (Howard), and Cherie Wood (Vanderburgh). In their nomination letter, the chief probation officers said the following: “Since Jane was appointed Executive Director of the Indiana Judicial Center, she has personally worked with POPAI… supported professional accountability in studies of evidence-based practices, stood alongside POPAI leadership regarding legislative challenges and initiatives, and remained optimistic in times of opposition. While many individuals in the Indiana Judicial Center have been champions to the probation officers and POPAI, it is Jane’s leadership to become a partner to POPAI’s mission that makes her stand out for this award.”
POPAI President Don Travis (Howard County) presented the award to Ms. Seigel in front of an audience of 200 probation officers, as well as Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard and Justice Frank Sullivan, Jr.