Community Engagement and Scholarship Award

2024 — Pearl Gluck, Associate Professor of Film Production, Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications
2023 — Dr. Amulya Yadav, Assistant Professor, College of Information Sciences and Technology
2023 Exemplary Distinction — Dr. Sherri A. Mason, Director of Sustainability and Associate Research Professor, Penn State Behrend
2023 Exemplary Distinction — Ilona Ballreich, Sustainable Communities Collaborative Manager, Penn State Sustainability Institute
2022 — Dr. Peter Stempel, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, College of Arts and Architecture
2022 Exemplary Distinction — Dr. Amulya Yadav, Assistant Professor, College of Information Sciences and Technology
2022 Exemplary Distinction — Lisa Domenico Iulo, Associate Professor of Architecture, College of Arts and Architecture
2021 — Dr. Shivaani Selvaraj, Director, Penn State Center Philadelphia, Penn State Outreach
2020 — Boaz Dvir, Assistant Professor; Director, Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights Education Initiative, Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications
2019 — Dr. Glenn Sterner III, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, Division of Social Science, Penn State Abington
2019 Exemplary Designation — Dr. Kristin Buss, Professor, Psychology; Director of PACT, College of the Liberal Arts
2018 — Laurie Grobman, Professor, English and Women’s Studies, Division of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences; Coordinator, Center for Service Learning and Community-Based Research, Penn State Berks
2017 — Dr. Andrea Tapia, Associate Professor, Director of Graduate Programs, College of Information Sciences and Technology
2016 — Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness, led by Dr. Daniel Perkins, Clearinghouse Director and Professor, College of Agricultural Sciences
2015 — Partners in Music, led by Dr. Linda Thornton and Dr. Robert Garner, School of Music, College of Arts and Architecture
2014 — The PROSPER Project, led by Mark T. Greenberg, Bennett Chair of Prevention Research, College of Health and Human Development.
2013 — Humanitarian Engineering and Social Entrepreneurship (HESE), led by Khanjan Mehta, Director, Humanitarian Engineering and Social Entrepreneurship Program, Instructor, Engineering Design. View the Humanitarian Engineering and Social Entrepreneurship video.
2012 — CHANCE, Connecting Humans and Nature Through Conservation Experiences, led by Dr. Jacqueline McLaughlin, Associate Professor of Biology, Founding Director, CHANCE, Penn State Lehigh Valley.
2011 — The Pittsburgh Studio: Regenerative Design in Stressed Communities, led by Ken Tamminga, College of Arts and Architecture. Read the news story. Watch Regenerative Design in Stressed Communities.
2010 — Drug Resistance Strategies Project, which features the Keepin’ it REAL Curriculum, led by Dr. Michael Hecht and Dr. Michelle Miller-Day of the College of the Liberal Arts.
2009 — Northern Appalachia Cancer Network: Changing Cancer Research, Changing People’s Lives, led by Dr. Eugene Lengerich, College of Medicine.
2008 — Rethinking Urban Poverty: The Philadelphia Field Project, led by Dr. Lakshman Yapa, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences.

2024 — Pearl Gluck, Associate Professor of Film Production, Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications
2023 — Dr. Amulya Yadav, Assistant Professor, College of Information Sciences and Technology
2023 Exemplary Distinction — Dr. Sherri A. Mason, Director of Sustainability and Associate Research Professor, Penn State Behrend
2023 Exemplary Distinction — Ilona Ballreich, Sustainable Communities Collaborative Manager, Penn State Sustainability Institute
2022 — Dr. Peter Stempel, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, College of Arts and Architecture
2022 Exemplary Distinction — Dr. Amulya Yadav, Assistant Professor, College of Information Sciences and Technology
2022 Exemplary Distinction — Lisa Domenico Iulo, Associate Professor of Architecture, College of Arts and Architecture
2021 — Dr. Shivaani Selvaraj, Director, Penn State Center Philadelphia, Penn State Outreach
2020 — Boaz Dvir, Assistant Professor; Director, Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights Education Initiative, Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications
2019 — Dr. Glenn Sterner III, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, Division of Social Science, Penn State Abington
2019 Exemplary Designation — Dr. Kristin Buss, Professor, Psychology; Director of PACT, College of the Liberal Arts
2018 — Laurie Grobman, Professor, English and Women’s Studies, Division of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences; Coordinator, Center for Service Learning and Community-Based Research, Penn State Berks
2017 — Dr. Andrea Tapia, Associate Professor, Director of Graduate Programs, College of Information Sciences and Technology
2016 — Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness, led by Dr. Daniel Perkins, Clearinghouse Director and Professor, College of Agricultural Sciences
2015 — Partners in Music, led by Dr. Linda Thornton and Dr. Robert Garner, School of Music, College of Arts and Architecture
2014 — The PROSPER Project, led by Mark T. Greenberg, Bennett Chair of Prevention Research, College of Health and Human Development.
2013 — Humanitarian Engineering and Social Entrepreneurship (HESE), led by Khanjan Mehta, Director, Humanitarian Engineering and Social Entrepreneurship Program, Instructor, Engineering Design. View the Humanitarian Engineering and Social Entrepreneurship video.
2012 — CHANCE, Connecting Humans and Nature Through Conservation Experiences, led by Dr. Jacqueline McLaughlin, Associate Professor of Biology, Founding Director, CHANCE, Penn State Lehigh Valley.
2011 — The Pittsburgh Studio: Regenerative Design in Stressed Communities, led by Ken Tamminga, College of Arts and Architecture. Read the news story. Watch Regenerative Design in Stressed Communities.
2010 — Drug Resistance Strategies Project, which features the Keepin’ it REAL Curriculum, led by Dr. Michael Hecht and Dr. Michelle Miller-Day of the College of the Liberal Arts.
2009 — Northern Appalachia Cancer Network: Changing Cancer Research, Changing People’s Lives, led by Dr. Eugene Lengerich, College of Medicine.
2008 — Rethinking Urban Poverty: The Philadelphia Field Project, led by Dr. Lakshman Yapa, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences.

Established 2008

The Penn State Award for Community Engagement and Scholarship was established in 2008 by the Vice President for Outreach and Vice Provost for Online Education in collaboration with the University Network for Student Engagement and the Faculty Senate.

General Description

The award recognizes an outstanding Penn State engaged scholarship project or initiative that best exemplifies the description of an engaged institution found in the Kellogg Commission’s report Returning to Our Roots: The Engaged Institution. The Penn State Award for Community Engagement and Scholarship consists of a stipend of $1,000.

The recipient of the Penn State Community Engagement and Scholarship Award is submitted as Penn State’s nominee for the Northeast region W.K. Kellogg Foundation Outreach Scholarship Award, sponsored by the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU). Regional winners advance to compete for the national C. Peter Magrath University Community Engagement Award.

Regional and National Awards

The Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities recognizes five regional winners of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Outreach Scholarship Award at the annual Engagement Scholarship Conference in September/October, where they will compete for the national C. Peter Magrath University Community Engagement Award. Regional winners each receive a stipend of $6,000, $1,500 toward the production of digitized story on the initiative, and $2,000 in travel costs to attend the Engagement Scholarship Conference.

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

Learn more about this awards program at APLU.

Criteria and Submission Materials

Engaged scholarship partnerships that are featured in the applications should exemplify the description of engaged institutions found in the Kellogg Commission on the Future of State and Land-Grant Universities’ report Returning to Our Roots: The Engaged Institution. As noted in Returning to Our Roots: The Engaged Institution:

By engagement, we refer to redesigned teaching, research, and extension and service functions that are sympathetically and productively involved with the communities universities serve, however community is defined… By engagement the Commission envisions partnerships, two-way streets defined by mutual respect among the partners for what each brings to the table.

The initiative must have a designated lead faculty or staff member, and must include one or more community partners.

The following information should be included in the nomination dossier:

Completed Community Engagement and Scholarship Award nomination form (DOC).
Description of the initiative that specifically addresses the following aspects of the project. (Please limit the description to 10 pages or less.)
- 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; and,
- Lessons learned and best practices developed that can contribute to the knowledge and practice of community engagement.
Support letter from a community partner involved in the initiative.

Nomination Committee and Submission

Nominations are being sought from the University community and will be reviewed and selected by a committee representing the University Network for Student Engagement, the Faculty Senate, student representation, and the previous year’s award recipient.

Nomination forms, with supporting nomination materials, should be submitted by email to COEAwards@outreach.psu.edu by December 20, 2024.

Questions

Questions concerning eligibility and nomination packet content should be directed to Richard Smith, co-chair of the Selection Committee, at res32@psu.edu.