DISSERTATION AWARD

Purpose: The Dissertation Award acknowledges and celebrates a dissertation that advances research on service-learning and community engagement through rigorous and innovative inquiry and has the potential for impact on the study and/or practice of service-learning and community engagement, including the communities, cultures, and systems within which it is undertaken.

Eligibility: Nominees can be from any academic discipline (or interdisciplinary program) and must have successfully defended and filed their dissertation between May 2023 and April 2024.

Evaluation criteria

  1. Significance of questions addressed in the dissertation for community engagement as a field of study, including originality and potential to generate new avenues of inquiry

  2. Relevance and robustness of theoretical or conceptual frameworks used and/or developed

  3. Quality of analysis, as indicated by rigorous and ethical methods of inquiry, in-depth analysis, and compelling conclusions.

  4. Potential impact of results and conclusions (on research and scholarship, on practice, on policy, etc.)

Nomination packet

  1. One-page title sheet that includes:

    • Nominee’s name

    • Nominee’s mail and e-mail addresses

    • Nominee’s institution and program

    • Name of nominee’s advisor

    • Date of successful dissertation defense

  2. Summary statement of the dissertation (not to exceed15 double-spaced, typed pages), including:

    • Purpose/Problem

    • Theoretical/Conceptual Framework

    • Methods and, if relevant, Data Sources

    • Results/Conclusions

    • Significance of the study for theory, research, practice, and/or policy related to service-learning and/or community engagement.

  3. A nomination letter from the nominee’s dissertation chair or advisor (not to exceed three pages). 

  4. Additional letter of support (optional)

  5. A current copy of the nominee’s resume or curriculum vitae