Awards
The Penn State Award for Faculty Outreach is designed to recognize faculty who make significant contributions to Outreach. The award was established in 1998 by the Provost and Vice President for Outreach and Cooperative Extension in collaboration with the Coordinating Council for Outreach and Cooperative Extension and the Faculty Senate Committee on Outreach.
The Penn State Scholarship of Engagement Award recognizes outstanding engagement initiatives that best exemplify the description of an engaged institution found in the Kellogg Commission on the Future of State and Land-Grant Universities’ report Returning to Our Roots: The Engaged Institution:
“By engagement, we refer to institutions that have redesigned their teaching, research, and extension and service functions to become even more sympathetically and productively involved with their communities, however community may be defined … Embedded in the engagement ideal is a commitment to sharing and reciprocity. By engagement, the Commission envisions partnerships, two-way streets defined by mutual respect among the partners for what each brings to the table ... We believe an engaged university can enrich the student experience and help change the campus culture … Finally, the application of knowledge is a unique contribution our institutions can make to contemporary society.”
The Outreach Vice President's Awards program is an important example of how we recognize and reward individuals and teams that make extraordinary contributions related to Outreach's central values: leadership, entrepreneurship, excellent service, learning and community, and diversity.