MUNCIE, Ind. -- One day Linda Keys is teaching Ball State University students about neighborhood planning and community needs. Another day she's mediating a police/resident dispute or helping an elderly woman find a better home.

For all of her work in the community, the Ball State professor recently scored a hat trick of outstanding citizen awards from the Muncie Black Expo, The Muncie Times newspaper and the city of Muncie.

The three awards recognize Keys' dedication to helping local organizations and residents during the past 14 years.

"She is concerned about the community in which she lives," said Bea Moten-Foster, owner and publisher of The Muncie Times. "Linda has gone beyond the call of duty of what the university hired her to do. She is not afraid to take on a project and see it through to the end."

Maria Williams-Hawkins, president of Muncie Black Expo and a telecommunications professor at Ball State, said Keys uses her skills to address people's needs.

"She'll take care of the problem," Williams-Hawkins said.

Keys is an associate professor of urban planning and associate director of Ball State's Office of Academic Research and Sponsored Programs. The mother of two is a Chicago native who came to Muncie in 1987.

In recent years she has assisted Muncie's Whitely and Industry neighborhoods, headed the city's Community Development Department, worked with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on community projects and aided the Motivate Our Minds program in its expansion plans.

She also has helped with Indiana's Consolidated Plan and Fair Housing Plan and has even coached basketball at Muncie's Boys and Girls Club.

Keys' assistance to programs has ranged from grant writing and publicity to gathering financial and technical resources. She has contributed her urban planning and public policy expertise, her connections and her encouraging attitude.

"I advise numerous groups, and I just try to motivate individuals to their full potential," she told The Muncie Times. "All it takes to succeed is fortitude and determination."

Five years ago she was asked to facilitate a volatile meeting between the Muncie police and a local family following an altercation in the Whitely neighborhood. Keys called it the most challenging job she's had.

"When she was done after several hours of dialogue between the family and the police department, they were shaking hands," Moten-Foster said. "She was like Moses, performing a miracle."

Keys also recalls the time she secured federal funds to buy a house for an 88-year-old woman who was living in deplorable conditions and had been denied assistance for 15 years.

Keys attributes her community service to her mother's example and a simple character trait: "I don't know how to tell people no."

By Ted Buck, Communications Manager

(Note to Editors:  For more information about this story, contact Linda Keys at (765) 285-5054 or by e-mail at lkeys@bsu.edu.)