Oklahoma State University named regional winner, vies for national community engagement honor

Monday, July 17, 2017

Recognizing extraordinary community outreach, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) announced today that Oklahoma State University is a regional winner of the 2017 W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Engagement Scholarship Award. 

OSU now competes with three other regional winners -- East Carolina University, the University of New Hampshire and Purdue University -- for the national C. Peter Magrath Community Engagement Scholarship Award, which will be announced during the APLU Annual Meeting November 12-14 in Washington, D.C.

The C. Peter Magrath Community Engagement Scholarship Award includes a sculpture and $20,000 prize. The three other regional winners will each receive a cash prize of $5,000. 

“This is a wonderful honor and exciting recognition of Oklahoma State’s health initiative with the Chickasaw Nation,” said OSU President Burns Hargis. “It also is a recognition of OSU’s long-standing commitment to serve and engage in our communities. I want to thank and congratulate the many OSU employees and students who carry out our land-grant mission in countless ways.” 

OSU’s Solutions-based Health Innovations and Nutrition Excellence (SHINE) was created in 2006 as a collaboration with the Chickasaw Nation to study nutrition and public health issues identified by Chickasaw citizens – combining cultural, historical and programming knowledge with nutrition and public health expertise. The partnership developed the Eagle Adventure program for children in the first through third grades. 

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 become even more involved with their communities. The national award is named for C. Peter Magrath, APLU president from 1992 to 2005. 

“This year’s Magrath Awards have demonstrated exceptional cultural, civic and economic contributions to their communities, states and regions,” said APLU President Peter McPherson. “They’re tackling some of the most urgent challenges facing our country by elevating the importance of student and faculty service, deepening connections to their communities, and reorienting their engagement work to ensure it employs a comprehensive approach that address every angle of these challenges.” 

A team of community engagement professionals judged this round of the award. A second team will pick the national winner following presentations at the 2017 National Engagement Scholarship Conference in September.