Nominations open for engaged scholarship awards

The Engagement Scholarship Consortium (ESC) seeking nominations for Awards of Excellence in Engaged Scholarship. The awards recognize higher education institutions and their exemplary contributions to scholarship and the practice of engaged scholarship.

Award winners will be recognized during ESC’s 2025 annual international conference, “Bridging Resources to Build Stronger Communities,” to be hosted by Virginia Tech and ESC’s East Region institutions on Oct. 8-9 at The Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center. In addition to participation in the Awards and Recognition program, category winners will be invited to share their exemplary program experiences during an Award Recipients Panel presentation.

The 2025 awards will recognize exemplary institutional programs in the following categories: 

• Student
• Faculty
• Outreach and Engagement Professional
• Community Partner

The consortium is also accepting applications for the Distinguished Dissertation Award. This award will recognize emerging scholars who advance research on community engagement scholarship through rigorous and innovative dissertation inquiry and whose work contributes to the field by having the potential for impact on the study, practice, and policies of community engagement.

Nominations must be submitted by April 4, 2025.

Presentation proposals will be considered on any topic clearly connected to the advancement of community engagement. The submission deadline is Monday, April 7. For more information or to submit a proposal, visit the Engagement Scholarship Consortium's website.

Who should submit a proposal?

Individuals, teams, and transdisciplinary collaborators across the educational spectrum, including:

• Undergraduate and graduate students involved in community/university engagement and/or studying the impacts of service-learning and community engagement.
• Representatives of community, educational, government, and/or corporate organizations working in partnership with colleges and universities.
• University and college faculty and staff involved in the study or practice of engaged scholarship, the scholarship of engagement, the implementation of engagement programs, or service-learning.
• Higher education administrators, including community engagement professionals and student affairs professionals, who foster institutional support for community engagement.
• Community members and other critical stakeholders who play key roles in community/university partnerships and their impacts.

Presentation formats

Proposals may be submitted in any of the following formats:

Research and Partnership Presentations – 30 minutes
This multi-presentation format provides a focused opportunity to advance our collective knowledge about community engagement by sharing best practices, lessons learned, and/or research findings.

Interactive Workshop
Workshops are designed with an intentional focus on skill and knowledge development. Presenters should plan to share information about a particular body of knowledge, evidence-based practice, engaged teaching or research techniques, assessment or research results, or methodologies. Active discussion between the audience and presenter(s) should be encouraged throughout the session.

Roundtables
Roundtables are designed to be highly interactive sessions focused on a common theme or interest area. The presenter(s) should begin the Roundtable session with a brief presentation of the results of a research study, or a rich description of a translational, educational, service-learning, clinical, or other program of engaged scholarship or evidence-based practice. The presenter(s) should then facilitate an engaging conversation with participants to answer questions, share ideas, and discuss best practices or innovative approaches.

Panels
Panels are designed to exchange information about a particular body of knowledge, evidence-based practice, engaged teaching technique, assessment or research instrument, or methodology. Panels include a target of three or four panelists and feature active discussions and conversation from various perspectives about a topic.

Posters
Posters are best suited to reporting results of research studies, assessments, and evaluations as well as the presentation of translational, educational, service-learning, clinical, or other programs of engaged scholarship or evidence-based practice. This year, poster presenters will also be invited to display their work digitally through the ESC conference app and be considered for Outstanding Poster Presentation awards.