DPI honors De Pere woman News-Chronicle Anita Barber of De Pere is one of 11 recipients announced Thursday of the Friend of Education awards presented by state Superintendent of Public Instruction Elizabeth Burmaster. Barber was honored for her work as director of Youth Educational Services for the Oneida Nation. It fosters collaboration with school districts to provide student services, including student advocates (tribal employees assigned to public schools as home-school coordinators and tutors). The awards were presented during the department's fall conference for district administrators in Madison. Other recipients included: Roger Axtell, retired vice president of Parker Pen and member of University of Wisconsin Board of Regents and Statewide International Education Council; Craig and Lea Culver, Culver's Restaurants, for developing opportunities for students with visual impairments; former Gov. Lee Dreyfus, for lifetime activity in the educational field; Jan Serak, Greendale, founder of the Quality Education coalition and co-director of the Family Assistance Center for Education, Training and Support; Paul Spraggins, Weeki Wachee Springs, Fla., former director of the Wisconsin Educational Opportunity Programs and Office of Urban Education; Keith Uhlig, Hlee Vang and Sharon Cekada, reporters with Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers, for a series on the resettlement of Hmong refugees and the work of DPI staff with future students; and Kris Adams Wendt, Rhinelander, director of the Rhinelander District Library for 30 years.