As part of the planned annual OSU Engagement Conference, we wish to recognize faculty, staff, and community partners for their efforts to develop programs or projects that adhere to the principles of community engagement and engaged scholarship. This includes reciprocal and mutually beneficial outcomes that address key societal issues and contribute to the inclusive prosperity of OSU’s internal and external stakeholders.

The criteria for these awards follow the definitions and framework set forth by the Carnegie Foundation and mirror two nationally recognized community engagement awards – W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Engagement Scholarship Award and C. Peter Magrath Community Engagement Scholarship Award.

There are three award categories available.You can apply to one, two or all three awards.

Awards are sponsored by the Division of Extension and Engagement.

Award categories

OSU Engagement Faculty Award (Formerly OSU Outreach and Engagement Award)

Recognizes significant and meritorious faculty work which enhances reciprocal learning with our students, partners, and stakeholders through engagement activities. Recipient receives a plaque and $2,000 to support ongoing engagement work.

Eligibility

• Tenured, tenure-track, clinical track, fixed-term and professional faculty
• Individual faculty or team

Award criteria

1. Demonstrated effort to ensure the quality of the engagement experience(s) for internal and external partners.
2. Evidence of rigor and currency of program content and the level of learner performance and reciprocal university learning.
3. Direct and significant impact (or evidence-based potential for impact) upon and involvement with external learners, OSU students, and the University itself.
4. Original and scholarly contributions to the field of engagement and engaged scholarship.
5. Evidence that the candidate's scholarly contributions have enhanced the effectiveness in extending Oregon State University to the people of Oregon and/or improving the capacity of the university to fulfill its land-grant mission.

Community Engaged Scholarship Team Award

Recognizes trans-disciplinary teams that have made exemplary strides to become more closely and productively engaged with communities through their teaching/learning, discovery, and service activities. Recipient receives a plaque and $2,000 to support ongoing engagement work.

Eligibility

• Trans-disciplinary and/or multi-institutional team of tenured, tenure-track, clinical track, fixed-term and professional faculty
• May also include non-academic staff/units that made significant contributions to the team’s engagement outcomes and impacts.

Award criteria

1. Description of overall program/project, including initial need/problem, objectives, and intended outcomes.
2. Identification of the role of each team member in the co-design, implementation, management, and evaluation.
3. Identification of key community partners, including their role in the co-design, implementation, management, and evaluation.
4. Description of key outcomes and impacts, including metrics and methods for data collection. Include an explanation of how outcomes and impacts have been (or will be) shared with broader communities (e.g., manuscripts, reports, mass media, etc.)
5. Summary of lessons learned and next steps for future growth and sustainability of the program/project.

OSU-Community Partnership Award

Recognizes a university-community collaboration that aligns with both partnership and engagement scholarship descriptions as described in the Carnegie Foundation’s Elective Community Engagement Classification. Recipient receives a plaque and $2,000 to support ongoing engagement work.

Eligibility

• Tenured, tenure-track, clinical track, fixed-term and professional faculty AND at least one key community partner
• Non-academic staff/units AND at least one key community partner

Award criteria

1. Description of overall program/project, including role of faculty, staff, and community partner(s) in the co-design, implementation, management, and evaluation.
2. Demonstration of a “collaboration between institutions of higher education and their larger communities (local, regional/state, national, global) for the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources in a context of partnership and reciprocity.” The engagement includes “collaborative, reciprocal partnerships and public purposes” and may be a part of “teaching, research and creative activity, and/or service…”.
3. Clear explanation of how scholarship addressing community needs was a part of the partnership. Scholarship should include “documentation of community response to ...programs, other evaluations or studies of impacts and outcomes of outreach or partnership, and how activities engage faculty, students, and community in mutually beneficial and respectful collaboration.” Further, “Characteristics of scholarship within research and creative activities include (but are not limited to) the following: applying the literature and theoretical frameworks in a discipline or disciplines; posing questions; and conducting systematic inquiry that is made public; providing data and results that can be reviewed by the appropriate knowledge community and can be built upon by others to advance the field.” (Quotes are from the Carnegie engaged university guidelines).
4. Letter(s) of support from a community partner or consortium of partners. The letter(s) must provide evidence of collaboration, reciprocity, mutual benefit, and the roles of community partners.