Susan Fox earns 2023 Four Presidents Distinguished Public Service Award

With her multiple decades of service toward local causes including hunger prevention, education, refugee resettlement, and church community development, Susan Fox has earned RIT’s annual award for a faculty or staff member who has shown outstanding commitment to community service. Fox, a prospect researcher for advancement services and administration in University Advancement, will receive the 2023 Four Presidents Distinguished Public Service Award at a ceremony to be held at 4 p.m. on April 11, in University Gallery, Booth Hall.

Created by RIT Vice President Emeritus Alfred L. Davis, the award is presented annually to a current member of the RIT faculty or staff whose public service and commitment to the Rochester community and beyond mirror the lives of the four presidents—Mark Ellingson, Paul A. Miller, M. Richard Rose, and Albert J. Simone—with whom Davis worked.

“My volunteerism has largely been born from an ever-present sense of gratitude and a desire to make a difference, particularly in Rochester, the hometown of which I am fiercely proud,” Fox explained. 

One of Fox’s main passions lies with fighting hunger. Over the last 20 years, Fox remained a constant volunteer to the Dining Room Ministry program run by the Third Presbyterian Church, ensuring that it maintained its commitment to serving hot meals every Saturday for those in need, even during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when the church was closed to the public.

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Jeff Sprague

Fox cheers for finishers at the 2013 East Avenue Grocery Run, an annual event which raises money for food pantries and meal programs across the Rochester area.

Fox has also helped to lead the East Avenue Grocery Run since its inception. This annual event has raised more than $400,000 for 24 food pantries and meal programs in the Rochester area over the past 13 years, including more than $15,000 to RIT FoodShare. Fox has assisted in driving sponsorship and participation in this event and ensuring the event day runs smoothly. Plus, she helped connect the East Avenue Grocery Run with Keeping Our Promise, another organization she contributes to which aids in the resettlement of Afghan, Iraqi, and Kurdish allies into Rochester. This ensured that the program could receive benefits from the East Avenue Grocery Run.

In addition to her efforts to fight hunger, Fox has consistently contributed to the Third Presbyterian Church in many roles. She shared her musical talents as a children’s choir piano accompanist, as a choir parent, and as chair of the music worship and arts committee of the church session. As former vice president and currently as secretary of the church’s board of trustees, she chaired the audit committee and helped lead discussions to create an anti-racism policy for the board. 

Fox has also assisted in developing the Urban Choice Charter School, where she interviewed new faculty and staff, assisted teachers, and served as president of the board, and oversaw the renewal of the school’s charter. 

“I am both honored and humbled to receive the Four Presidents Award at RIT,” Fox said. “All of my volunteer efforts have been in settings where I was one set of many hands, and I will be accepting the award on behalf of a larger group of like-minded Rochesterians who want to be a positive force of change in our community.”