Fred Andrle, Institute Associate for the Humanities Institute, has won the 2010 Bjornson Award for Distinguished Service in the Humanities.

The Bjornson Award is given each year from The Ohio Humanities Council to honor an Ohio resident or native who has made outstanding career contributions to the public knowledge and appreciation of the humanities. Previous recipients have included historians and classicists, novelists and poets, community volunteers and college professors.

Andrle is the author of a book of poetry titled, Love Life. Before retiring in 2009, he hosted WOSU’s Open Line for twenty years. Shortly after retirement, he joined the Humanities Institute where he develops ways to connect the humanities with audiences in the central Ohio community. He also moderates the public discussion series, Conversations in the Humanities with Fred Andrle. So far, this year’s discussions include Islam and Religious Tolerance in America and Thinking About Race.

The Bjornson Award for Distinguished Service in the Public Humanities is conferred each year at the Council’s December meeting. Andrle will receive an engraved plaque and an honorarium at the December meeting of the Ohio Humanities Council.