Dr. David Hoffman Receives Imagining America’s Randy Martin Spirit Award

At the October 2025 Imagining America (IA) National Gathering, Dr. David Hoffman, Ph.D. '13, director of the Center for Democracy and Civic Life was honored with IA's Randy Martin Spirit Award. The annual award recognizes an individual who embodies the unique combination of qualities that made the late Dr. Randy Martin, professor of art and policy in the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, a beloved and valued member of the IA community. It is presented to a professional "working in and/or in-partnership with higher education who consistently achieve excellence and demonstrate original thinking and approaches in at least 3 of the areas in which Randy Martin excelled: scholarship, artistry, pedagogy, mentorship, and institutional leadership/administration. Recipients will be people who, within all their professional roles, exude the many of the human qualities for which Randy will always be remembered: generosity, sincerity, humor, joy, curiosity, clowning, and an irrepressible joie de vivre."

"There are few staff members that I have worked with in my 20+ years in higher education who truly enact the values of their position and unit more effectively than David Hoffman," said Dr. James DeVita, assistant vice president for academic partnerships and high-impact experiences. "Not only does David demonstrate an unwavering commitment to supporting students, staff, faculty, and all who engage with UMBC in experiencing the true meaning of community, he does so by enacting the values of the Center for Democracy and Civic Life in every aspect of his work."

Dr. DeVita added, "David regularly goes above and beyond as a member of the UMBC community by embodying the Retriever spirit in both his on and off-campus engagement, producing scholarship in the field of higher education, and contributing to numerous local and national efforts to enhance civic engagement that have made him--and UMBC's campus--a recognized leader in the field. This award appropriately honors David for both who he is as a person and as a professional."

In their nomination, Dr. Romy Hübler '09, M.A. '11, Ph.D. '15; Markya Reed,'18, M.A.'23, and Tess McRae '22, assistant director for connective learning, Center for Democracy and Civic Life, stated, "David Hoffman exemplifies Randy Martin's generous, sincere, curious, and joyful spirit through his mentorship, original thinking, and institutional leadership. As a celebrated civic engagement leader with 22 years of transformative contributions at UMBC and in national organizations, he has had a positive influence in the lives of thousands of students and colleagues, including the three of us. We each worked with David as students and continue to do so now as community engagement professionals. (Dr. Hübler is director of the Office of Civic Engagement and Social Responsibility at Towson University, and previously served as associate director of the Center for Democracy and Civic Life. Reed is assistant director of operations at Johns Hopkins University's Center for Social Concern. She was a graduate assistant with the Center for Democracy and Civic Life. McRae was a student intern with the Center for four years.)