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SRU professor honored for his work by NAACP

Slippery Rock professor Dick Wukich received the President's Award from the New Castle NAACP for teaching water purification to villagers in Sudan, Iraq and Honduras.
Water purification taught to villagers

SLIPPERY ROCK — For community service and teaching water purification to villagers in Sudan, Iraq and Honduras, Slippery Rock University art professor Dick Wukich has received the President's Award from the New Castle NAACP.

It is the highest honor given annually by the New Castle branch.

Wukich, a ceramist who started at SRU in 1968, volunteers at the I Care House in New Castle, a facility offering services to low-income families. His work with potable water purification systems in developing countries has been showcased several times, most recently at a three-day conference SRU hosted in early November.

Through Potters for Peace, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization that networks potters and educators working to develop water filter systems worldwide, Wukich has taught villagers in those countries to use a simple clay system to filter harmful bacteria and chemicals from water.

Wukich, of Slippery Rock, teaches pottery making at SRU.

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