How to Nominate

Submission deadline:
December 19, 2008

The Penn State Scholarship of Engagement Award recognizes two outstanding outreach and engagement initiatives that best exemplify the description of an engaged institution found in the Kellogg Commission’s report Returning to Our Roots: The Engaged Institution.

Each nominee must submit a 500-word abstract to Linda Saylor (lms37@psu.edu ) that highlights the following aspects of the engagement partnership:

  • How the project exemplifies the description of an engaged institution found in Returning to Our Roots: The Engaged Institution, including characteristics of responsiveness, respect for partners, academic neutrality, accessibility, integration, coordination, and resource partnerships
  • Institutional commitment, endorsements, and future plans reflecting a commitment to engagement
  • Relationship between the partners, including a demonstration of the reciprocity of the relationship
  • Impacts on the community, the university, and the scholarship of engagement
  • Lessons learned and best practices developed that can contribute to the knowledge and practice of community engagement

Photos may also be submitted to support the nomination.

The winners will be notified by January 23, 2009.

Penn State Scholarship of Engagement Award

Submission deadline: December 19, 2008


Each year, Penn State recognizes two outstanding engagement initiatives that best exemplify the description of an engaged institution found in the Kellogg Commission’s report Returning to Our Roots: The Engaged Institution. The two winning projects each receive the Penn State Scholarship of Engagement Award and a $1,000 stipend. Each project is also showcased in news stories and featured on this Web site.

More important, the two recipients of the Penn State Scholarship of Engagement Award become Penn State’s nominees for the Northeast region W.K. Kellogg Foundation Engagement Award, sponsored by the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULGC). Regional nominees are required to complete a more thorough application for NASULGC, detailing their engaged initiatives. Judging criteria are the same throughout the process (for criteria, see How to Nominate). Regional winners go on to compete for the national C. Peter Magrath University Community Engagement Award.

Regional and National Awards

NASULGC recognizes the five regional winners of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Engagement Award at the annual Outreach Scholarship Conference in October. Regional winners each receive $6,000 and are considered for the national award.

The C. Peter Magrath University/Community Engagement Award is a national award that recognizes outstanding outreach and engagement partnerships between universities and communities. Only regional winners of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Engagement Award are considered for the Magrath Award, presented by NASULGC at its annual meeting in November. Each national award winner receives a cash prize of $20,000.

Lakshman (Lucky) Yapa, professor of geography in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences at Penn State, is the 2008 Northeast region W.K. Kellogg Foundation Engagement Award winner for Rethinking Urban Poverty: A Philadelphia Field Project. Dr. Yapa has also been honored with the C. Peter Magrath University/Community Engagement Award for 2008. Watch this video to learn more about this project.