Engaged Faculty Award
The Engaged Faculty Award recognizes one faculty member in North Carolina for exemplary engaged teaching and scholarship, including leadership that advances students’ community and civic learning, conducting community-based research, fostering reciprocal community partnerships, and building institutional commitments to service-learning and community engagement. The award is presented during the PACE conference.
Nominations typically open mid-September and close the first week in November.
Now Accepting Nominations for the 2024 Engaged Faculty Award!
Deadline: December 8, 2023
Read the CALL FOR NOMINATIONS which includes the link to the Nomination Form. We will present the 2024 EFA on February 14, 2024 during the PACE Conference at Guilford College.
Questions? Contact Leslie Garvin.
2023 Engaged Faculty Award Recipient
Lucy Lawrence, MSW, Ph.D.
Dr. Lucy Lawrence, Social Work Professor and Program Director, Warren Wilson College received the 2023 Engaged Faculty Award on February 15, 2023 during the annual PACE Conference at High Point University. Pictured is Warren Wilson Interim President Bill Christy who was in attendance.
Background
From 2006 through 2017, NCCE presented the Robert L. Sigmon Service Learning Award (requesting new Sigmon photo) recognizing one faculty member in the member network who made significant contributions toward furthering the practice of service-learning. The award was named in honor of Robert L. Sigmon, a service-learning pioneer and North Carolina native. In 1967, along with Bill Ramsay and Wendell Russell, he coined the phrase “service-learning” to better describe the community-based internships they facilitated at the Southern Regional Education Board. In 2009, Mr. Sigmon donated his personal library and research to Elon University to create the Robert L. Sigmon Service-Learning Collection. In 2016, the archive was digitized and is now available online. https://elonuniversity.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16128coll7
In 2017, Sigmon humbly expressed his desire that his name be removed from the award because “it is the service-learning movement in its many variations, rather than any one or two individuals who need to be recognized. The S-L language has now had a 50 year run with all kinds of frameworks added and subtracted.” To honor his wishes, we have expanded the award beyond service-learning to recognize other forms of engaged teaching and learning. Sigmon also reminded us that the “the key factor in service-learning relationships is the acceptance of the potential learning for all the parties involved as well as the recognition that each can be of some service or help with the others.” As a result, we launched the Community Partner Award in 2019.
Past Recipients
Click on the name to read story/bio.
2022 – Dr. Lynn W. Blanchard, UNC-Chapel Hill
2021 – Steven M. Virgil, Wake Forest University
2020 – Dr. Beth Wall-Bassett, Western Carolina University
2019 – Dr. Alessandra Von Burg, Wake Forest University
2018 – Dr. Annie Jonas, Warren Wilson College
2017 – Dr. David Malone, Duke University
2016 – Dr. Patricia Bricker, Western Carolina University
2015 – Mr. Travis Hicks, UNC Greensboro
2014 – Dr. Jim Cook, UNC Charlotte
2013 – Dr. Rebecca Dumlao, East Carolina University
2012 – Dr. Spoma Jovanovic, UNC Greensboro
2011 – Dr. Della Pollock, UNC-Chapel Hill
2010 – Dr. Michele Gillespie, Wake Forest University
2009 – Pam Kiser, MSW, Elon University
2008 – Dr. Cheryl Brown, Greensboro College
2007 – Dr. Rachel Willis, UNC-Chapel Hill
2006 – Dr. Betsy Alden, Duke University