The University’s Cosmopolitan Club and John W. Santas, University professor in ACES, each received Champaign-Urbana’s International Humanitarian Award at a banquet held last night in the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, 500 S. Goodwin Ave.

The Cosmopolitan Club and Santas were among three other recipients recognized for their contributions in international relations and global understandings in the community.

“We want to recognize that Champaign County has a rich international population, or I should say, contributions and concerns,” said Denise Gordon, assistant to the city manager for community relations.

Gordon said the Cosmopolitan Club encompasses the award’s mission to educate and to show the relationship between local and global communities. Andrea Shields, executive director of the Cosmopolitan Club, said the club offers activities for international and American students to learn about other cultures and make connections with people from various backgrounds.

“I think we feel much more comfortable being part of this world … an international experience, to interact with people from different countries and have friends from all over the world,” said Felix Autenrieth, University graduate student and president of the Cosmopolitan Club, who has dual citizenship in Germany and Canada.

The Cosmopolitan Club, which is the oldest international organization on campus, received the award for hospitality. Some of its contributions include a reception for new international students at the beginning of the school year and coffee hours featuring a different country every week. Apart from making international students feel at home, the club’s facility, 307 E. John St., provides a physical home for students wanting to live there and a meeting place for students to get to know each other.

“It really just exposes them to different ways, basically different ways of being,” Shields said.

In addition to the Cosmopolitan Club, Santas also received an individual award for his international impact in research and education. According to Gordon, Santas has spent much of his life serving developing countries, particularly Latin American countries. He works in a variety of offices involving international activities and in encouraging students to study abroad. Santas has received numerous awards for his international contributions.

Other awards went to Bette van Es, of Champaign, in humanitarian relief, First Presbyterian Church of Urbana, 602 W. Green St., in humanitarianism and Ten Thousand Villages, 105 N. Walnut, Champaign, in trade and business.

The International Humanitarian Award is in its third year. Recipients of the award are nominated throughout the year, and a nomination committee chooses the winners based on strict criteria in various categories.

“It is a wonderful thing that we were singled out,” Shields said.