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.
- Finanical awards may be used to support the winner's community-based work. Funds must be used by the end of the academic year following the spring annoucneemnt (e.g. if award is recieved spring 2025, funds must be utilized by the end of AY 2025-26).
Application period is August 15 to October 31, annually.
EXcel Winners
24-25 Inaugural WInner: Dr. Megan Welsh Carroll
Project Sanitation Justice (PSJ) is an ecosystem of community partnerships led by Dr. Megan Welsh Carroll (pictured above), Associate Professor of Public Affairs in the College of Professional Studies and Fine Arts. The ecosystem of community partners includes Think Dignity, Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest, San Diego River Park Foundation, Lived Experience Advisers, San Diego Metropolitan Transit System, People Assisting the Homeless (PATH) San Diego, California Department of Public Health, American Restroom Association, Mid-City CAN, San Diego Public Library - Mission Valley branch, SDSU University Police Department, and SDSU Counseling & Psychological Services, with more added annually.
PSJ partners with individuals and organizations locally and nationally to advance sanitation rights through action research and policy advocacy. In its first 4 years of existence, PSJ has partnered with a wide range of local and national non-profit organizations and public service providers to document, amplify, and advocate these partners’ work and needs around water, sanitation, and hygiene access. PSJ meets community partners where they’re at in terms of reciprocity and collective action. PSJ works tirelessly to conduct community driven action research. PSJ accomplishes this through our robust social network of direct service providers and advocates who work in this space; listening to these collaborators, our team designs and carries out action research to document community needs, offer academic legitimacy where necessary, and provide data, maps, and other ways to visualize community needs.
The nominations for this inauguaral award were all of extremely high quality. This year's runners up include the following faculty, in no particular order:
- Dr. Samantha Bova, College of Sciences
- Dr. Laura Coco, College of Health and Human Services
- Dr. Ana Dueñas, College of Education
- Dr. Jeffery Osborne, Division of Professional Studies (Imperial Valley)
- Dr. Jessica Barlow, College of Arts and Letters
- Dr. Roberto Hernández, College of Arts and Letters
- Dr. Randall Timm, College of Education