Kent P. Friel to Receive the University of Cincinnati Award for Excellence

Outstanding education advocate and volunteer Kent P. Friel of Mt. Lookout will be honored with the University of Cincinnati Award for Excellence during UC’s Commencement Ceremony at 2:30 p.m., Saturday, June 9, at Fifth Third Arena at Shoemaker Center. The award recognizes individuals who have made a significant contribution to the purposes and ideals of the university.

Friel is a volunteer community fellow with KnowledgeWorks Foundation, Ohio’s largest education philanthropy. The foundation works to increase the number and diversity of people entering college by creating and improving opportunity from pre-kindergarten through high school.

Friel earned his BBA in 1959 and his MBA in 1965 in business administration from the UC College of Business.

In his position as community fellow for KnowledgeWorks, Friel is leading the transformation of a new $42 million Woodward Career & Technical High School for Cincinnati Public Schools. He worked closely with Lawrence J. Johnson, dean of the College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services (CECH), to form a community advisory council for the college, of which Friel is chair.

Friel is also a steadfast supporter of a model five-year program housed in CECH. The African-American Initiative for Math/Science (AAIMS), launched in 2004, provides scholarships for minority students to become 7th through 12th grade math and science teachers in urban schools – an effort to increase the numbers of African-American teachers in urban schools and to improve math and science education for children in the inner city. Friel led recruitment of the 25 African-American students for that program.

Prior to joining KnowledgeWorks, Friel owned his own business for 14 years – Schonberg Associates – a regional career-services firm, which he sold to Lee Lecht Harrison, an international firm in that industry. He served as Lee Lecht Harrison’s regional vice president after spending nine years as CEO of his own firm.

Friel has served the UC College of Business as a member of the dean’s advisory council and the board of governors of the college’s alumni association. He received the College of Business Alumni Association Distinguished Service Award in 2001.

Friel is president-elect of the Better Business Bureau and a board member for Cincinnati Works, a poverty-to-work organization. He serves on the Lighthouse Youth Services Board of Trustees and is past president of the Leadership Cincinnati Alumni Association. He also serves as chairman of the education panel and is an executive committee member of the Cincinnatus Association.

Friel and his wife, Mary, have a blended family of nine children and 23 grandchildren.