Alumna, Community Volunteer and CET Host Barbara Weeks Kellar to be Honored with UC’s Award for Excellence
Kellar will be honored at UC’s Commencement Ceremony on Dec. 11.
Longtime community volunteer Barbara Weeks Kellar will be presented with the prestigious University of Cincinnati Award for Excellence at UC’s Commencement Ceremony at 10 a.m., Saturday, Dec. 11, in Fifth Third Arena at Shoemaker Center. The honor recognizes individuals who have made a significant contribution to the purposes and ideals of the university. | Barbara Weeks Kellar |
Kellar has served Cincinnati as a community volunteer for more than 40 years – dedicated to serving the arts, youth and education. She hosts public television’s “CET Express” at CETConnect.org, which features interviews on behalf of the arts, philanthropy and education.
Kellar is a graduate of Withrow High School and earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from UC as well as a master’s degree in guidance and counseling. Through most of the 1960s, she taught third grade at Cincinnati Country Day School.
Kellar has served key roles with CET, where she has won numerous awards including the President’s Award, a key to the City of Cincinnati, the Ohio Broadcasting Award for Development, the National Award for Excellence in Public Television Leadership and was honored at a 2010 Gala for her over 40 years of service to CET. CET’s annual “Barbara Kellar Award” is presented to volunteers who are dedicated to CET’s mission to educate, enrich and engage.
Among her other awards, Kellar was the first recipient (1996) of the “Heart for the Arts” award from Learning Through Art, Inc., a Beacon of Light Humanitarian honoree (2005) from Lighthouse Youth Services, and honoree at the Cincinnati Ballet’s 30th Anniversary Gala for the new Lorrence T. & Barbara W. Kellar Ballet Studio.
She has served on the boards of the Cincinnati Women’s Club and the Ensemble Theatre. She is treasurer and past president of the Cincinnati MacDowell Society and is founder and chair of the MacDowell Artists Grant Fund. She currently serves as a trustee of the UC Foundation.