Office of Engagement’s

Engaged Unit/Program Award

All Awards
award-trophy

2025 Award Winners

School of Languages and Cultures

SLC demonstrates a strong commitment to community engagement across all mission areas. Through programs like SPARK and Ayuda y Aprende, they provide transformative learning experiences for students while addressing community needs. Their partnership with Aprendiendo a Leer exemplifies engaged scholarship, promoting literacy and language development in the community. SLC actively collaborates with schools, organizations, and industries, fostering reciprocal relationships and contributing to cultural enrichment and community service.

Honorees will be invited to attend the Faculty Honors Ceremony & Celebration to be held Spring 2026.

Nomination forms should be submitted by email as one PDF file by January 20th, 2026 to Julie Gibbs at jagibbs@purdue.edu

Awards Committee may recognize multiple winners in each category or choose not to present an award, based on their discretion

The engaged unit/program award recognizes a Purdue unit or program that integrates/leverages community engagement across ALL university mission areas.

Who is Eligible for This Award

The engaged unit/program award recognizes a Purdue unit or program that integrates/leverages community engagement across ALL university mission areas: teaching, research, and engagement resulting in broader or societal impact. For example:

  • Research generated beyond being published, it also informed teaching and/or community best practices
  • Meaningful engagement led to research opportunities resulting in research outputs (grants, publications, etc.), service-learning opportunities, and/or documenting best practices that in turn were included in teaching about the issue/topic.

A key requirement for this award is that community engagement aligns with Purdue University’s Office of Engagement Framework and Protocol. In other words, community engagement follows the community engagement definition; aspires to one or more of the outcomes delineated; and leverages one or more of the onramps described, to name a few.

Additional points will be given to units/programs that also have interdisciplinary teams, when feasible, and include evidence of at least collaboration and/or co-creation with either other Purdue units or community partners, or both (for more information refer to the University’s engagement protocol). Winners will receive a $2,000 cash award.

Here’s How to Nominate

Nominations for this award can be received from colleagues, department heads, deans, etc. Self-nominations are also welcome. Nomination packages should not exceed 3 pages (not including support letters) and must include the following elements:

  1. History of the unit/program, including vision and mission if applicable.
  2. Detailed description on how the unit/program has leveraged community engagement across all three university mission areas (teaching, research, and engagement) and how these three mission areas leverage/benefit each other.
  3. List of community partners that have benefited from this unit/program.
  4. Two letters of support on letterhead: one from supervisors/colleagues and one from community organizations/partners.

Nomination forms should be submitted by email as one PDF file by January 20th, 2026 to Julie Gibbs at jagibbs@purdue.edu