Shared from the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU)
Washington, DC – In recognition of their extraordinary community engagement initiatives, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) today announced that four of its member universities have been selected as regional winners of the 2025 W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Engagement Scholarship Award. As regional award winners, Indiana University, Oregon State University, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and West Virginia University will compete for the national C. Peter Magrath Community Engagement Scholarship Award, which will be announced at the 2025 APLU Annual Meeting in November.
Since 2007, APLU and the Engagement Scholarship Consortium, with support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, have partnered to honor the engagement scholarship and partnerships of four-year public universities. The award recognizes programs that demonstrate how colleges and universities have redesigned their learning, discovery, and engagement missions to deepen their partnerships and achieve broader impacts in their communities. The national award is named for C. Peter Magrath, APLU president from 1992 to 2005.
“Congratulations to the winners of the Kellogg Community Engagement Scholarship Awards,” said APLU President Waded Cruzado. “Community engagement is core to the public university mission, and we’re thrilled to recognize the critical work these institutions have done to help their communities tackle stubborn challenges and unleash the potential of their regions.”
A team of community engagement professionals from public research universities judged this round of the award. A second team will pick the national winner following presentations at the 2025 National Engagement Scholarship Conference.
The C. Peter Magrath Community Engagement Scholarship Award includes a sculpture and a $20,000 prize. The three other regional winners will each receive a $5,000 prize to further their work.
Background on regional winners
Indiana University
Working to enrich the health, prosperity, and vitality of rural areas, the Indiana University Center for Rural Engagement’s Sustaining Hoosier Communities (SHC) program connects students and their faculty with community-led projects that expand IU and rural Indiana’s networks while addressing community-identified needs in southern Indiana. The program convenes residents to identify assets that could be strengthened in partnership with Indiana University, such as libraries, social services, government entities, natural resources, local landmarks, social networks and more. SHC pairs community-identified projects with courses and programs at IU Bloomington, infusing local capacity with the energy and fresh ideas of IU’s students and faculty. The effort has connected more than 2,400 IU students and faculty with rural communities in Indiana. To date, SHC has partnered with six rural Indiana counties, each with populations ranging from 19,000 to 43,000, to advance 151 community-identified projects that benefit more than 208,000 people across the state.
Oregon State University
When Oregon’s largest commercial fishery was threatened by a rise in whale entanglements, Oregon State University (OSU) deployed a team of researchers to partner with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and other community stakeholders to better understand and address the challenge. The group developed a plan to identify areas of overlap in fishing areas and whale activity, assess potential whale exposure to Dungeness Crab gear, and share knowledge with commercial fishermen to mitigate further whale entanglements. OSU convened subject matter experts, industry, and environmental groups in a working group to develop a consensus understanding of the challenge at hand, identify key knowledge gaps, and leverage community connections to address the problem. OSU researchers boarded U.S. Coast Guard helicopters and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ships to collect and analyze data on the locations of over 3,500 whales. The researchers monitored 42,000 miles over 376 days between 2016 and 2024, identifying when the density of humpback and blue whales peaks over the Oregon continental shelf. A follow-up predictive analysis mapped whale distribution with fishing effort to identify areas and times of elevated entanglement risk, informing Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Dungeness Crab management decisions that support the commercial fishing industry while protecting whales.
West Virginia University
To build talent, keep future leaders in the state, and provide communities access to innovation, faculty and staff at West Virginia University engaged the community to create the Mountaineer Area RoboticS (MARS) program. MARS is a K–12 STEM partnership that helps students explore creativity and curiosity through competitive robotics. The partnership was designed to reach youth in underserved communities, connecting them with hands-on learning, mentors, and opportunities in STEM. WVU faculty, staff, and students collaborate closely with local schools and organizations to share technical knowledge and mentorship. In turn, community partners support outreach, events, and engagement with young people. This partnership brings WVU’s land-grant mission to life by reaching students in the communities that need it most, helping more West Virginians access higher education, and connecting the university’s research and expertise with real challenges facing the state. MARS helped launch hundreds of robotics and drone teams and hosts over 130 outreach events each year. In just five years, nearly 50,000 people have taken part. While only 47 percent of students in West Virginia go to college, 100 percent of MARS participants graduate from high school, and 96 percent go on to college. Most choose STEM fields. Many come to WVU, lead student programs, and mentor others, creating a cycle of leadership and community impact across the state.
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Looking to address gaps in research at federally qualified health centers and improve care, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK) teamed up with River Valley Health (RVH), formerly Cherokee Health Systems, in 2022 to launch the Research and Education Aligned for Clinical and Community Health (REACCH) partnership. Building on longstanding collaborations between UTK and RVH, REACCH established a structured partnership through shared policy, research, training, and a place-based engagement hub. REACCH systematically identifies community health issues through RVH frontline clinical insights and UTK’s research capabilities. The partnership directly engages with communities to understand their unique needs, leveraging RVH’s deep community connections alongside UTK’s academic resources. The REACCH partnership allows university faculty and students to gain experience serving East Tennessee’s patient populations, as well as multidisciplinary research and experiential learning opportunities. These interdisciplinary collaborations provide opportunities for UTK faculty, undergraduate, and graduate students to participate in engaged scholarship while implementing innovative, effective, and nationally recognized community-engaged research and teaching programs. The partnership is currently conducting studies and outreach efforts on improving health literacy, advancing maternal health education, reducing chronic illness, and nutrition education.