How to apply
Nominate a faculty member (new for 2024!)
Do you know a faculty member who deserves recognition for their commitment to connecting their teaching, research and service to community engagement? Nominate a candidate for this award. The nomination form will allow you to submit faculty for consideration and offer a testimonial describing why they are deserving of the award. Nominees will be notified of their selection and encouraged to complete the full application to be considered for the award.
Submit a nomination for the Lynton Award →
Nominations are due October 14, 2024
Apply for the award
We strongly encourage individuals to apply for the award directly! Whether or not you are nominated, all faculty who wish to be considered for the award must complete the full application to be eligible for consideration.
Start an application for the Lynton Award →
Applications are due October 31, 2024
Eligibility
Applicants for the Lynton Award must be full-time, early-career faculty employed at a Campus Compact member institution. (Early career is defined as pre-tenure for those on the faculty track; faculty in contract systems should not be beyond their sixth year at the time of application.)
Selection criteria
Engaged Scholarship
Demonstrates a sustained commitment to connecting teaching, research/ creative activity, and service to community engagement (more than one example of community-engaged work–examples of applied work or service learning alone do not qualify–integration of the dimensions of the faculty role in the context of community-based work; grounding in a theoretical or conceptual framework activities; contextualization of community-based work in terms of social justice in a diverse democracy)
Reciprocity
Demonstrates a commitment to working with community members through reciprocal relationships (mutual identification of a public issue or research problem; collaborative development of a methodology to address the issue; asset-based perspective of community partnerships/ members; participation of partners in evaluation and teaching and learning activities; involvement of community partners in institutional organizational structures, such as advisory committees)
Collaboration
Evidence of collaboration with students as partners in community-based teaching and learning activities and/or community-based research/creative activity (e.g., activities in which the students’ role as partner in the community-based collaboration is acknowledged and which highlight such things as student expertise, innovation, collaborative and/or leadership skills)
Field Impact
Evidence of impacts (current or anticipated) on new forms of knowledge creation, theory, and practice (e.g., publications, presentations, or performances addressing the scholarly aspects of community engagement; evidence of how the nominee’s work contributed to a deeper understanding of the concepts and/or practice of community engagement)
Institutional Impact
Evidence of impacts (current or anticipated) at the institutional level (e.g., workshops on innovative pedagogical approaches to community engagement; development of model projects or pilot courses based on community engagement that are linked to curricular change; obtaining external funding that supports community-engaged teaching, research/creative activity, and service; formal and informal mentoring and consulting; cross-disciplinary community-engaged teaching and learning, research/ creativity, and service)
Reflection
The quality of the nominee’s reflection on practice
Expectations
By submitting the application, the nominee agrees to provide a professional photograph if selected, and consents to having their photograph and syllabus posted on the Campus Compact website. You also consent for Campus Compact to forward this information to authorized members of the Selection Committee for review.
Application requirements
- Nominee’s contact information, bio, & demographic information.
- Nominator’s contact & demographic information
- Contact Information for Nominee, Nominator, President, Provost, Dean and Department Chair.
- Nominee’s CV or resume.
- Nominee’s Community Engagement Form (Nominee is asked to respond to specific questions about their engaged work.)
- At least one but no more than three syllabi, if available.
- Supporting documentation (for example, letters of support from community partners or students, press releases, faculty websites, abstracts from grant proposals). Supporting documents should not exceed 10 pages. We do not accept links to websites. Instead, nominees should copy and paste materials from websites and include that information as part of the Supporting Documentation file.
- Applicants will be asked to provide a headshot photograph and, if selected, consent to having their photo and syllabus posted on the Campus Compact website. Campus Compact will publish the winner’s submitted syllabus on the Compact website to showcase the work as a fine example of integrating civic engagement and higher education.
Please note: Applicants who submit Lynton Award nominations incorrectly or without required information (such as syllabi or supporting documentation) will have a maximum of 24 hours to correct errors or omissions.
Timeline
For the 2025 Lynton Award:
- The online application form will open in August 2024
- The application deadline will be October 31, 2024
- The 2024 recipients will be notified in December 2024
- Public announcement: January 2025
- Recognition: at Compact25, March 31 - April 2, 2025
FAQs
How is "early career faculty" defined?
Faculty must be full-time and either on a tenure track or in a contract system. Faculty on the tenure track are eligible only if they are pre-tenure and faculty in contract systems should not be beyond their sixth year. We understand that there may be slight variations in contract system specific to certain institutions, and we encourage those with questions about eligibility to contact [email protected].
Can a faculty member who has submitted tenure materials for review still apply for the award?
No. The Award is designed for faculty prior to a tenure review.
Is the award specific to faculty from the New England region?
The Award is open to faculty at Campus Compact member institutions anywhere in the United States.
Is the award designated for faculty from specific institution types?
Faculty affiliated with any public or not-for-profit higher education institution that belongs to Campus Compact are eligible for the Award.
Is the Lynton Award a service-learning award?
The Lynton Award does not privilege community engagement in either teaching, research, or service, but recognizes scholarly engagement that is integrated across all of the faculty roles.
Who can serve as nominators for the award?
Nominations can be made by academic colleagues, administrators, students, and community partners. Faculty are also welcome to apply for themselves.
Can a group of people nominate a faculty member for the award?
Yes. Multiple people can submit a single application for the nomination of a faculty member. In such cases, one person should be designated as the primary nominator, who will be responsible for completing and submitting the application. Additional nominators can be noted in the appropriate section of the application.
Can more than one faculty member be nominated from a single institution?
Yes. More than one faculty member from a single college or university may be nominated. Please complete separate applications for each nominee.
Is there a monetary component to the award?
The award recipient’s expenses are paid to attend the Campus Compact conference at which the award is presented (if in person).
Are there certain values associated with the award?
The Lynton Award is undergirded by three values:
- Reciprocity: The core value of reciprocity involves knowledge generation as a process of co-creation, breaking down the distinctions between knowledge producers and knowledge consumers. It further implies scholarly work that is conducted with shared authority and power with those in the community at all stages of the research process, from defining the research problem, choosing theoretical and methodological approaches, conducting the research, developing the final products, and participating in peer evaluation.
- Democracy: A central aspect of the scholarship of engagement is a commitment to facilitating the involvement of individuals in the community as participants in the larger public culture of democracy.
- Social Justice: The Award honors the work of faculty committed to social justice that acknowledges the need for authentic educational responses to the challenges of the contemporary world, including, but not limited to generational poverty and prejudice, a degraded environment, and an educational system that continues to operate on an uneven playing field.
When applying, how can the nominee demonstrate impacts on theory and practice and various structures and entities?
- Intellectual contributions: e.g., impact on knowledge, theory and practice, through innovative approaches in making community engagement a distinguishing, integral feature of teaching, research/creative activity. Examples include publications, presentations, or performances addressing the scholarly aspects of community engagement; evidence of how the nominee’s work contributed to a deeper understanding of the concepts and/or practice of community engagement.
- Institutionalization of community engagement: e.g., deepening and increasing community-based practice through developing campus projects and/or programs involving faculty and students in new and important ways; Examples include evidence beyond individual teaching, research/creative activity, and service, that the nominee influenced their department, college, and or institution to incorporate community engagement into institutional culture and identity.
- Department: e.g., providing workshops on innovative pedagogical approaches to community engagement; development of model projects or pilot courses based on community engagement.
- College/School: e.g., development of model projects or pilot courses based on community engagement that are linked to curricular change; obtaining external funding that supports community engaged teaching, research/creative activity, and service.
- Colleagues: e.g., formal and informal mentoring and consulting; cross-disciplinary community engaged teaching and learning, research/creativity, and service.
- External community: e.g., evidence of involving community partners in institutional organizations structure (for example, campus advisory committees) related to campus community partnerships