UNC Greensboro has been named a regional winner of the 2021 W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Engagement Scholarship Award by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU).
As a regional winner, UNCG will compete for the national C. Peter Magrath Community Engagement Scholarship Award, which will be announced in November. Other finalists for the award are the University of California, Los Angeles, the University of Minnesota, and Virginia Tech.
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.
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.
UNCG is recognized for its multipronged approach to increasing access to culturally responsive scholarship and community engagement. Through initiatives such as the Immigrant Health ACCESS Project (IHAP), part of the Center for New North Carolinians (CNNC), UNCG has helped create multi-directional pathways of health care access for marginalized communities. IHAP reaches over 700 uninsured immigrant and refugee adults in the greater Greensboro area each year. CNNC is transforming refugee and immigrant services as it also transforms understanding and scholarship about the issues facing these communities. CNNC students, faculty, and community research fellows have contributed 25 peer-reviewed publications and over 20 practitioner-oriented publications and reports.
“At UNCG, we take pride in our commitment to community engagement. The work taking place at the Center for New North Carolinians is a tangible example of how we translate this commitment into practice. It’s the fulfillment of our mission as a public university,” said Dr. Terri L. Shelton, Interim Provost and Vice Chancellor for Research and Engagement. “I am pleased to see the work of CNNC nationally recognized. For over 20 years, the Center has been bringing together University and community partners to advance access and integration for our immigrant and refugee communities in North Carolina. We look forward to continuing the great community-engaged work happening across our campus.”
“Congratulations to the winners of the 2021 Kellogg Community Engagement Awards and our exemplary designees,” said APLU President Peter McPherson. “Public research universities have a unique role in addressing the challenges facing their communities and we’re pleased to highlight the excellent work of institutions on the leading edge of this work. They are harnessing the immense talent and assets to tackle complex challenges in 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 2021 National Engagement Scholarship Conference.
