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Excellence in Community Engaged Learning (EXcel) Awards

 

SDSU has established the Excellence in Community Engaged Learning (EXcel) Awards to recognize the outstanding faculty and community partner contributions to community engaged learning at SDSU. For the purposes of recognizing community engaged work at SDSU, the definition of what community engaged work is will be interpreted liberally (e.g., service learning courses, service projects not connected to an academic course, local/regional/international collaborations, research that enagages with the community, innovative clinical and field placement programs, projects that enagage an "ecosystem of community partners" rather than a single community partner, and more). All faculty and/or staff leading community engaged courses and projects are eligible to submit a nomination for their community partnership. The selection committee encourages nominations of projects from diverse disciplines, including projects of an interdisciplinary nature. Projects of all scope and size are encouraged to apply. 

Successful nominations will highlight the project's capacity to:

  • Develop and maintain a reciprocal/mutally beneficial relationship with the community partner(s).
  • Engage students and learning in meaningful ways.
  • Have a positive impact on the SDSU campus and local, regional, and/or international communities.
  • Demonstrate depth, pervasiveness and innovation.

Before submitting a nomination form, please note the following:

  • Community partners selected as winners (for both the main award and any runners up) must be willing to complete a survey administered in the spring semester. If the nomination identifies an "ecosystem of community partnerships" rather than a single partner, the faculty member may be asked to identify 1-2 community partners from that 'ecosystem" to complete the survey.
  • Faculty/staff leading a nominated project must be willing to provide media (e.g., photos, websites, videos) related to the project/course. This will occur after the winner has been announced and not during the nomination process.
  • Leader(s) of the winning community engaged project will asked to give a talk about their project during the spring semester.

The winning course/project/partnership will earn an award of at least $5,000. In addition, at least two runners-up will be identified and awarded at least $1000 in recognition of their contributions to community engaged learning.

Application period is August 15, 2024 to November 1, 2024.

2024-2025 EXcel Award Nomination Form