The Alan G. Penczek Service-Learning Faculty Award
Recognizes and honors a faculty member in each of the three higher education sectors (public universities, community colleges, independent colleges and universities) for excellence in the integration of service-learning into the curriculum and impact to students and the community.
Dr. Dawn Lewis, Professor of Psychology, Prince George's Community College
Dr. Dawn Lewis is the winner of the 2022 Alan G. Penczek Service-Learning Faculty Award, Community College Category, in recognition of her excellence in integrating service-learning into the curriculum of the Psychology of Women course and her commitment to advancing student learning through equitable and reciprocal community engagement and service. She has been with PGCC since 2003, serving as the coordinator for the Newly Hired Full-time Faculty Program since 2014. In her capacity as a faculty member, she has served as the Coordinator of the Psychology, Sociology, and Education Collegian Center, Coordinator of the college-wide Faculty Mentoring Program committee, and now serves on the Service-Learning Advisory Team. In addition, Dr. Lewis has served on faculty search committees, the Diversity Faculty Learning Community, department textbook selection committees, and now serves on the college-wide Core Commitments Innovation Committee. In 2012, Dr. Lewis was awarded the Outstanding Faculty Organization Award.
Dr. Lewis is a psychologist whose research interests include the self-concept and mental health of African American women. Dr. Lewis was named one of Ebony Magazine’s 50 Leaders of Tomorrow in November 1995. She enjoys teaching, advising, and mentoring her students.
Dr. Yolandra Plummer, Professor, School of Business and Public Administration, University of the District of Columbia
Dr. Yolandra Plummer is the winner of the 2022 Alan G. Penczek Service-Learning Faculty Award in the Public University Category, in recognition of her distinguished career that has contributed to the development of new generations of public servants, her work as principal investigator of the Paving Access Trails to Higher Security (PATHS) program and its year-long service-learning placements for students, and for her efforts to expose students to public policy and social justice issues that foster empathy, critical consciousness, and self-awareness. The PATHS program provides work readiness training to 400+ District residents who receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits. Dr. Plummer is especially interested in the dimensions of online learning experiences for low-income populations, especially individuals with learner differences. Dr. Plummer teaches undergraduate courses in Business Management. She also teaches graduate courses in the PhD program in the University’s College of Agriculture, Urban Sustainability and Environmental Sciences.
The Excellence in Student Service Award
Acknowledges students and student groups for their commitment and involvement in service projects that extend beyond any co-curricular requirements or service-learning courses, leading to long-term, sustainable, community impact.
Mr. Daniel Khoshkepazi, Student Government Association President, University of Baltimore
Mr. Daniel Khoshkepazi, University of Baltimore, is the winner of the 2022 Excellence in Student Service Award, honoring his exceptional service as a leader in student government and his unflagging advocacy on behalf of the University of Baltimore student body to create a more just, equitable, and inclusive campus community.
Daniel Khoshkepazi holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology and Political Science from the State University of New York at Plattsburgh and a Master of Arts degree in Global Affairs and Human Security from the University of Baltimore. Daniel works as the Main Street Manager at Pigtown Main Street where he led the planning of the 20th Annual Pigtown Festival and provides small businesses within the Pigtown commercial corridor with personalized media, marketing, grant writing, and other support through one-on-one consultations.
The P20 Partnership Award
Recognizes a leading partnership between PreK-12, higher education, and the community. This partnership addresses issues related to college, career, and civic readiness through student engagement and service-learning.
Ms. Abigail Cohen, Manager, Partnerships, District of Columbia Public Schools
Ms. Abigail Cohen is the winner of the 2022 P20 Partnership Award, in recognition of her ongoing efforts to strengthen the District of Columbia Public Schools’ relationship with the higher education and non-profit sectors in Washington, DC, and to advance K-12 and university student service-learning opportunities and college, career, and civic/community readiness.
Abby has spent her career in public service, including her year of service as an AmeriCorps VISTA in Washington, DC. Her VISTA time deeply impacted her professional aspirations, and she was able to stay on with her VISTA organization, Higher Achievement, as their manager and then director of program partners. From there she pursued her master’s degree in public policy at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy, where she focused on the intersection of social and education policy. After graduation, she returned to Washington, DC to work at the Data Quality Campaign (DQC), a non-partisan policy and advocacy organization focused on the effective use of data in education. She spent six years at DQC, leaving as their associate director of policy and research to take her current role at DC Public Schools (DCPS). As the manager of partner engagement, Abby focuses on cultivating and sustaining partnerships with organizations across the city that provide invaluable services and opportunities to our students. Her time working with Transform Mid-Atlantic and its local university partners has been a highlight of her time with DCPS and she looks forward to continuing these wonderful relationships and impactful work.
Campus-Community Partnership Award
Recognizes one outstanding campus-community partnership that produces measurable impact in both student participants and the community. Consideration will be given for demonstrated sustainability, reciprocity, and mutual collaboration.
Dr. Sean Cleary, Associate Professor of Epidemiology, The George Washington University
Dr. Sean Cleary is the winner of the 2022 Campus-Community Partnership Award, in recognition of the impact that “The Autism Experience: A Public Health Experience” has had in improving the quality of life of autistic adults and their families and of the engagement of students in direct service-learning opportunities in the community.
In collaboration with members of The Tribe, an autism advocacy group, Dr. Cleary developed the course, The Autism Experience: A Public Health Perspective in 2018, funded by the Honey W. Nashman Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service. He collaborated with Growing Kids Therapy Center and Our Stomping Ground, a nonprofit organization that builds inclusive, sustainable, and affordable communities for people of all abilities, to create opportunities for students to volunteer and provide support for each organization. In addition, autistic young adults and their families are invited to participate in the class to discuss current issues relevant to the transition to adulthood including education, employment, housing, interpersonal relationships, and research. The course provides both an opportunity for GWU students to work with and learn from the young adults but also to give the autistic young adults a voice for others to learn from that is essential for community-based participatory research.
The JEDI-CCE (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion – Civic and Community Engagement) Award
Recognizes outstanding campus-community partnership that contributes to the intersection and institutionalization of equity and civic and community engagement, within the culture of the campus and community, involving community voice in the development of partnerships and producing measurable impact in both faculty and student participants and the community.
Dr. Maranda Ward, Assistant Professor and Director of Equity, The George Washington University
Dr. Maranda Ward is the winner of the 2022 Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion-Civic and Community Engagement (JEDI-CCE) Award, honoring her engaged scholarship that examines the impact of structural racism and implicit bias in the health professions field, as well as the reciprocal nature of her work and deference for community-based knowledge. Dr. Ward teaches health equity curriculum for undergraduate students that integrates her #EquityMatters podcast. Her teaching excellence was recognized with the highest teaching honor at GW – the 2021 Morton A. Bender Teaching award.
Dr. Ward is an expert in advancing anti-racism efforts within health sciences education and in designing curricula to enable students and faculty to competently promote health and racial equity in practice. Her research focuses on JEDI and antiracism educational interventions as well as stakeholder-engaged community-focused studies on HIV, Black women's health, and youth identity. As a member of the DC Center for AIDS Research she is the principal investigator on “Two in One: HIV and COVID Screening & Testing Model” grant. She also serves as the Ambassador Program Lead for the GW Health Careers Opportunity Program. With this pipeline program, she ensures that students from historically excluded backgrounds are fully supported in their introduction to health professions. Dr. Ward's research is further converted into practice as the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Promising Futures - a youth development pipeline for D.C. youth ages 11-24 that integrates a social justice approach to positive youth development using edu-tainment to invite youth to explore their civic and social identities, social inequities, and health seeking behaviors.
Global Citizenship Award
Recognizes outstanding contributions in shifting campus and community culture to develop global citizens and mutual understanding at the local, regional, or international scale.
Dr. Joan Serfain, Professor, Political Science, Frostburg State University
Dr. Joan Serafin is the winner of the 2022 Global Citizenship Award, in recognition of her commitment to and scholarship of developing globally engaged curricula and opportunities for students at FSU to understand their place and purpose in the greater world, and in turn raising the profile of FSU as a leading institution in the global education field. Dr. Joan Serafin has been a Professor of Political Science at Frostburg State University since 1989. In that capacity, she has been actively engaged in promoting knowledge about and interest in global affairs through her courses, study abroad, and at local, national, and international fora.
Dr. Serafin’s teaching interests include courses in Russian, East European, European, world and food politics. Every Spring she leads a delegation to the international simulation of the Organization of American States held in conjunction with the Office of the OAS Secretary General, which draws college students from across the Hemisphere. Dr. Serafin served for many years as the Coordinator of FSU’s interdisciplinary International Studies major which had upwards of eighty majors. Dr. Serafin has actively promoted experiential learning evidenced in her role as the Political Science Internship Director. Most recently, Dr. Serafin was a founding member of FSU’s Global Civic Leaders program which seeks to harness the energy and creativity of FSU students to be activists in promoting change in areas like education, the environment, and political engagement. She also founded the nonprofit organization the Institute for Diplomatic Dialogue in the Americas (IDDA), which sponsors the Model OAS in Washington, D.C. each spring, providing hands-on experience for students which is transformational as they learn from their peers and career diplomats, come to understand the diversity of non-US opinions in the region, and see the interconnectedness of issues like poverty and education.
The Civic Engagement Award
Recognizes outstanding contributions to the development of civic learning and engagement in sustaining our participatory democracy.
Dr. Diane McMahon, Allegany College of Maryland, Ms. Jennifer Haydel, Montgomery College, and Mr. Joseph Bubman, Urban Rural Action, are the winners of the 2022 Civic Engagement Award for the “Basic Needs Security Collaboration” project, which included high-impact training opportunities and community-centered dialogue that brought students and community organizations together to tackle complex challenges in the region. Seeing students work across political viewpoints to support food justice efforts in Montgomery County and in Allegany County highlighted the power of education that allows students to explore, define, and solve critical human challenges. This collaboration is deeply indebted to So What Else, Inc., Meals on Wheels Rockville, and the Allegany College of Maryland Food Pantry, as each of these organizations gave considerable time and energy to help students see the value and challenges of addressing critical community needs.
Dr. McMahon is a professor of sociology at Allegany College of Maryland, where she also works as the faculty director of the College to Community Partnership Center. Prior to receiving her Ph.D. in Sociology at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Dr. McMahon was the director of a peace and justice center in Pittsburgh, PA.
Prof. Haydel teaches Political Science at Montgomery College in Germantown, Maryland. Her work emphasizes the connections between current events and their historical roots, the benefits of interdisciplinary learning, and the importance of civic engagement and advocacy. She supports faculty professional development by co-facilitating Montgomery College’s Quantitative Reasoning in the Disciplines Program. Jennifer seeks to engage students in experiential learning that benefits the college and county communities, including student participation in Montgomery College voter outreach efforts.
Joe Bubman is the founder and Executive Director of Urban Rural Action, a national grassroots movement that brings Americans together across divides to tackle our country's most urgent challenges. He is a 2021 Gen2Gen Innovation Fellow. Before founding UR Action, Joseph served as Mercy Corps’ Acting Director of the Peace and Conflict team and, prior to that, as a Senior Peacebuilding Advisor, helping develop and implement conflict management programs in Guatemala, Iraq, Mali, Myanmar, South Sudan, and Syria.
The Institutional Leadership Award
Recognizes and honors one individual for outstanding contributions to the institutionalization of community engagement, by inspiring a culture of service/civic and community engagement on the campus and involving community voice in the development of partnerships and the campus.
Ms. Michele Wolff, Director, The Shriver Center (retired), University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Ms. Michele Wolff is the winner of the 2022 Institutional Leadership Award in recognition of her long tenure at UMBC’s The Shriver Center, during which time she embraced the development of equitable and just campus-community partnerships which impacted thousands of UMBC students.
Ms. Wolff was Director of The Shriver Center and an affiliate instructor in UMBC’s Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Public Health for more than 30 years. She holds a master’s degree in Applied Sociology. Through its applied learning and community engagement initiatives, The Shriver Center serves as a bridge between campus and community in addressing community identified needs. As Center Director, Ms. Wolff oversaw the administrative, fiscal, and programmatic functions of a staff of more than 50 and an annual budget of more than $4 million. She also served as principal investigator and project director on successful grants funded by government, nonprofit, and private agencies, organizations, and foundations, including grants funded by the National Science Foundation, AmeriCorps, the Maryland Higher Education Commission, the Marguerite Casey Foundation, and Constellation Energy. Ms. Wolff oversaw the assessment and evaluation components of her organization and served, for many years, on the Senior Advisory Group for Engagement (SAGE) and assessment committee of Transform Mid-Atlantic. Ms. Wolff was an active member of the UMBC professional staff community, serving as a member on several important university-wide initiatives, including as project director for UMBC’s successful application for the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching’s Community Engagement classification and as chapter secretary of Phi Beta Kappa, Eta of Maryland. Ms. Wolff retired from UMBC in July 2022.
The Civic Leadership Award
Recognizes an individual who has contributed substantially to the development of civic and community engagement in the Maryland, DC, and Delaware region.
Ms. Lena Morreale Scott, Director, Civic Education & Engagement Initiative, University of Maryland, and Co-chair, Maryland Civic Education Coalition
Ms. Lena Morreale Scott is the winner of the 2022 Civic Leadership Award, in recognition of her advocacy for civic education in Maryland schools and her role in founding the Maryland Civic Education Coalition, initiatives which have transformed the lives of countless students, educators, and community members. Lena is a co-founder and co-chair of the Maryland Civic Education Coalition, a cross-partisan network of more than 150 students, educators, university researchers, civic partners, and community members dedicated to ensuring equitable and meaningful civic education and service- learning opportunities for all Maryland students. She represents Maryland on the State Policy Task Force of the CivXNow Coalition. Lena has spent more than 35 years in civic education as a classroom teacher, leader in professional development for current and future Social Studies educators, author and curriculum designer, and advocate for social justice and equitable, meaningful civic education.
In her current role, Lena she serves as the director of the Dean’s Civic Education & Engagement Initiative, where she supports college-wide collaborations such as college’s annual commemoration of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service and the #EdTerpsVote campaign that provides students, faculty and staff with resources to register to vote, become informed about the candidates and issues, and cast their ballots in upcoming elections. Lena is a member of the Vote 16 Research Network and the co-chair of the Cross-Campus Civic Engagement Working Group dedicated to elevating service and civic engagement on campus and in the region.