Three Distinguished Community Engagement Awards Given for Teaching, Research and Engagement

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Three winners have been named for the Distinguished Community Engagement Awards in the categories of teaching, research and engagement.

The awardees are:

Award for Community Engaged Research: Lindiwe Sibeko, extension assistant professor in the department of nutrition, School of Public Health and Health Sciences (SPHHS).  Sibeko was selected based on a strong record of engaging vulnerable communities in innovative approaches to investigating the social determinants of maternal and child health, training students and producing impactful findings benefiting communities, families and stakeholders. 

Award for Community Engaged Teaching: Maureen Perry-Jenkins, professor, psychological and brain sciences and Center for Research on Families faculty director. Perry-Jenkins was selected for creating a community and university teaching partnership which brings together community agency paraprofessionals and university students in a credit-bearing college course on family resilience, with unique benefits for both groups.

Award for Community Partner Award: Holyoke Public Schools Ethnic Studies Program. The program was selected for creating and sustaining a vibrant, community engaged ethnic studies program in Holyoke Public Schools (HPS) through a vigorous working partnership with faculty and educational programs on the UMass Amherst campus, with mutual benefits for HPS and UMass communities.

Distinguished Community Engagement Awards have been made annually by the Provost’s Office for more than two decades. According to the call for nominations, “This award recognizes individuals within our campus community as well as community partner organizations for their outstanding contributions to community-engaged scholarship and teaching, and campus / community partnerships, with impacts at the local, regional, national, or international level.”