Athens, Ga. – The University of Georgia recently was awarded the 2009 Outreach Scholarship W.K. Kellogg Foundation Engagement Award for its Archway Partnership program. By receiving the award, the Archway Partnership is one of four regional programs invited to compete for the national 2009 C. Peter Magrath University Community Engagement Award.
The Archway Partnership is an initiative to strengthen UGA’s land-grant mission by taking a grassroots approach to meet locally identified community and economic development needs by creating “portal” communities through which the university’s teaching, research, and service missions can address community driven issues.
Six such “portal” communities already exist-Moultrie/Colquitt County; Sandersville, Tennille/Washington County; Brunswick/Glynn County; Clayton County; Hartwell/Hart County; and Americus/Sumter County-with the Hawkinsville/Pulaski County community set to begin operations on July 1, according to Archway Partnership Director Mel Garber.
The Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, formerly known as the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, declared the Archway Partnership award to be “the single most prestigious university/community engagement award” for the Southern Region.
“The regional award is recognition by other institutions of higher education that the University of Georgia is a national leader in development of a more effective platform to tie community needs to higher education resources,” said UGA Vice President for Public Service and Outreach Art Dunning. “The Archway Partnership demonstrates the University of Georgia’s commitment to create and sustain a new way to connect the work of faculty members and students from across the entire campus to the needs of communities throughout the state.”
Garber agreed. “The Archway Partnership really enhances student education as well as community-based research. It is truly a vehicle without limits in furthering economic development in Georgia’s communities, student education and faculty involvement from virtually all academic disciplines and areas of research.”
The APLU is a voluntary, non-profit association of 186 public research universities, including 74 land-grant institutions and 27 state university systems that enroll more than 4.7 million students.
The Archway Partnership and the other three regional award programs will be showcased during the National Outreach Scholarship Conference Sept. 28-30 at the University of Georgia, and the Magrath award winner will be selected during the conference, with the winner being announced during the APLU annual meeting Nov. 15-17 in Washington, D.C.
The Outreach Scholarship and Magrath University Community Engagement awards recognize four-year public universities that have redesigned their learning, discovery and engagement functions to become productively involved with their communities. The Magrath Award is named for C. Peter Magrath, president of NASULGC, now APLU, from 1992-2005. Magrath was a leading advocate for public universities embracing the concept of outreach and community engagement.
For additional information about the APLU, the 2009 Outreach Scholarship W.K. Kellogg Foundation Engagement Award, and the Outreach Scholarship and Magrath University Community Engagement Award, see www.aplu.org.