With support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU)'s Peter Magrath Award for Community Engagement provides national recognition for the outstanding community-university engagement work of public universities.
The national award is named for C. Peter Magrath, APLU president from 1992 to 2005. The Magrath Award is connected to the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Engagement Scholarship Regional Awards given by the Engagement Scholarship Consortium (ESC). Both the Magrath Award and the Kellogg Awards recognize universities that have redesigned their learning, discovery, and engagement missions to become even more connected with their communities.
The Kellogg Awards are given to winner of each of four regional competitions and are presented annually each fall during the ESC Annual Conference in partnership with APLU's Commission on Economic and Community Engagement (CECE). Prior to the ESC Annual Conference, the winners of each of the four regions are selected by a panel of university engagement scholars appointed by the ESC Board of Directors and the CECE Executive Committee. In addition, the panel may select one additional application per region that is identified as an exemplary application for special recognition at the ESC Annual Conference.
Each of the four regional winners receive the Kellogg Awards and compete for APLU's national Peter Magrath Award for Community Engagement. Each Kellogg Award recipient receives two complimentary registrations for the ESC Annual Conference and $2,500 to support the production of a two-minute video “story” about their partnership and to defray expenses for travel to the ESC Annual Conference. During the ESC Annual Conference, each of the four regional winners receives an award object and also certificates to be shared with their community partners. The video is shown at the ESC Annual Conference and is part of the review process for the Magrath Award for Community Engagement.
The Magrath Award for Community Engagement is presented in November of each year during the APLU Annual Meeting, North America's largest convening of public university presidents, provosts, vice-presidents, and senior administrators. The award winner are recognized with an award sculpture, a $20,000 prize, and visibility through CECE. At the APLU Annual meeting in November the three regional winners not chosen for the Magrath award each receive a cash prize of $5,000.
The application period for the 2019 W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Engagement Scholarship Awards and the C. Peter Magrath Community Engagement Award is now closed. Click here to view your application. To be alerted of the next opportunity, please be sure to sign-up to join CECE.
See the Engagement Scholarship Consortium WK Kellogg Foundation Awards page for a full listing of regional award winners and their exemplary projects.
2018: Ball State University and Whitely Neighborhood of Muncie's Context of Community (SCC) program
2015: CommUniverCity San José, San José State University
2014: Working Together to Transform Lives through Pharmacist Collaborative Care and Outreach in the Community (PCOC), Virginia Commonwealth University
2013: Young Scholars Program, The Ohio State University
2012: Lucille W. Gorham Intergenerational Community Center, East Carolina University
2011: From Bozeman to Khwisero: Engineers Without Borders, Montana State University
2010: The Riverworks at Sturgeon City, North Carolina State University
2009: The American Dream Academy, Arizona State University
2008: Rethinking Urban Poverty: the Philadelphia Field Project, The Pennsylvania State University
2007: Institute for Advanced Learning and Research, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech)
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