Each year the department of University Recreation honors a distinctive alumnus at the NIRSA: Leaders in Collegiate Recreation national conference.

The UREC Outstanding Alumnus Award was established in 2011. The award recognizes prominent graduates and leaders who have made outstanding contributions to the field of collegiate recreation. This year's recipient was Jennifer Hazelrigs.

Hazelrigs worked for UREC as a graduate assistant and graduated with a master's degree in Recreation Management in 2002. She was immediately hired as an assistant director for UREC Outdoors, formerly known as the Outdoor Connection Center, and continued to serve the department for an additional 12 years. While at the University of Arkansas, Hazelrigs established the Arkansas Adventure Programming conference, launched the UREC Outdoor Bike Shop, and opened UREC's 32-foot climbing wall.

While living in Fayetteville, Hazelrigs served the community through her involvement on the city's Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, the Bicycle Coalition of the Ozarks, as well as serving as the state advocate for Leave No Trace programming. Today, Hazelrigs is the director of Outdoors at Auburn University.

"I recently attended an outdoor conference, attended by many of Jennifer's former students, and was overwhelmed with the number of people who told me how Jennifer had positively impacted their life in some way," said Jeremy Battjes, director of University Recreation.

"It is evident how much her students, current and former, value her mentorship and professional relationship with them."