University of Memphis named regional winner and national finalist for APLU Community Engagement Scholarship Award
Oct. 6, 2020 — In recognition of its extraordinary community engagement initiatives, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) has named the University of Memphis a regional winner of the 2020 W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Engagement Scholarship Award.
As a regional winner, the UofM will compete for the national C. Peter Magrath Community Engagement Scholarship Award, which will be announced in November. Other finalists for the award are Ohio State University, the University of Utah and the University of Vermont.
The C. Peter Magrath Community Engagement Scholarship Award includes a sculpture and $20,000 prize. The three other regional winners will each receive a cash prize of $5,000.
In announcing the UofM as a regional winner, the APLU specifically recognized the University’s Institute of Interdisciplinary Memphis Partnerships to Advance Community Transformation (iIMPACT). Bolstered by the UofM’s research capacity and the support of community leaders, iIMPACT has developed a set of programs and services that address a wide range of health and socioeconomic issues facing local families.
“Creating initiatives that help improve the local community is one of our most important missions at the University of Memphis,” said UofM President M. David Rudd. “To have those efforts acknowledged by the APLU as a regional award winner and national finalist is a credit to the many amazing people on our campus and throughout our community who have made iMPACT, and many similar programs, a tremendous success. This is an honor we will celebrate and continue to build upon.”
Since 2007, APLU and the Engagement Scholarship Consortium, with support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, have partnered to honor the engagement scholarship and partnerships of four-year public universities. The award recognizes programs that demonstrate how colleges and universities have redesigned their learning, discovery and engagement missions to deepen their partnerships to achieve broader impacts in their communities.
"Amid the pandemic, the nation’s public universities have risen to the challenge to meet their communities’ needs in a major way,” said APLU President Peter McPherson. “That community engagement is at the heart of their mission, and we’re thrilled to elevate institutions that have a longstanding commitment to being at the forefront of community engagement efforts. We congratulate this year’s Magrath Award finalists and exemplary designees for a job extremely well done and for their ongoing work in support of their communities."
A team of community engagement professionals from public research universities judged this round of the award. A second team will pick the national winner following presentations at the 2020 National Engagement Scholarship Conference.