West Islip School District publicist Nancy Lenz was recent­ly honored with the LI FACS (Long Island Family and Con­sumer Science) Ellen Swallow Richards Award for 2008. This award honors one individual, a non-member who has made an outstanding contribution to the field of Fam­ily and Consumer Science in New York State. Lenz, the director of West Islip School District's Public & Media Relations Office for the past 11 years, and president emeritus of the Long Island School Public Relations Association, was honored at the organization's End of the Year Party held at the Woodlands Country Club in Woodbury.

Lenz announced last month that she was ac­cepting an invitation from Eastern Suffolk BOCES headquarters to work in its office of communications, which will begin this summer. During her time in both Babylon and West Islip School Districts, Lenz strongly supported the family and consumer science programs, which includes early childhood education, parenting, food and nutrition, career skills, job seek­ing, financial management, etc. "I am truly touched by this acknowledgement of my efforts to support all that FACS stands for and accomplishes," said the Pa­tchogue resident. The Ellen Swallow Richards Award is in honor of the chemistry engineer's many accomplishments. Richards was the first female graduate of MIT (in 1868), a professor and author, a leader of women's rights, and was the first to introduce the word "ecol­ogy" in the U.S. in 1892. Her social service and interest in all that pertained to the higher education of women and the betterment of living conditions earned her national recognition. She died in 1911.