Magrath Community Engagement Award Finalist Spotlight: University of Georgia

In recognition of their extraordinary community outreach initiatives, four APLU member institutions have been selected as regional recipients of the 2022 W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Engagement Scholarship Award. As regional winners, the University of Georgia, the University of Texas at San Antonio, the University of Vermont, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison will compete for the national C. Peter Magrath Community Engagement Scholarship Award, which will be announced during the APLU Annual Meeting in November.

The Archway Partnership is a University of Georgia (UGA) public service and outreach unit through which faculty members are based in communities to help stakeholders address locally-identified critical issues. The faculty member, called an Archway Professional (AP), facilitates meetings where community members agree on and prioritize their needs. The AP then reaches out to UGA schools and colleges for expertise the communities need. Often UGA faculty and students work with select communities to address their challenges.

Eight communities are active at any one time over a period of years. These partnerships have led to the involvement of over 200 university faculty in Archway communities since the program began in 2005 and over $20 million in community and research grants since 2009, including a USDA grant of nearly $1 million to improve management of chronic health conditions in rural Georgia through telemedicine. The partnership has helped tackle community challenges such as high rates of diabetes and hypertension, increasing access to mental health care, and small business development in rural areas.