Awards & Recognitions
The International Association for Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement (IARSLCE) is the only international organization whose primary purpose is to cultivate, encourage, and present research across all engagement forms and educational levels. IARSLCE connects scholars around the world to advance knowledge on service-learning and community engagement.
In recognition of exemplary contributions through research on service-learning and community engagement, IARSLCE honors those whose research contributes significantly to understanding and advancing community engagement, across all approaches and all educational sectors. We are pleased to announce the recipients of the 2025 awards.
For more information about our awards and past recipients, click here.
Distinguished Career Award: Roger N. Reeb
The Distinguished Career Award acknowledges and celebrates intellectual leadership through a body of work that has broad and deep impact on the study and/or practice of service-learning and community engagement, including the communities, cultures, and systems within which it is undertaken. Dr. Roger N. Reeb is a Professor of Psychology, Faculty Research Fellow with the Human Rights Center, and a Faculty Affiliate with the Hanley Sustainability Institute at the University of Dayton. Dr. Reeb's significant contributions to the theoretical and empirical development of the service-learning and community engagement (SL/CE) field stem particularly from his expertise in Clinical and Community Psychology. This background has provided a robust foundation for his research, teaching, and program development related to crucial issues such as community outcomes, inequalities, social justice, and social inclusion. He has also critically explored power relations within participatory research methods and provided clinically related services to disenfranchised and vulnerable populations.
Early Career Award: Carmine Perrotti
The Early Career Award acknowledges and celebrates intellectual leadership through an emerging body of work that has begun to demonstrate broad and deep impact on the study and/or practice of service-learning and community engagement, including the communities, cultures, and systems within which it is undertaken. Dr. Carmine Perrotti's groundbreaking work shifts the research lens from the institution to the community, interrogating community engagement initiatives through the experiences of community members, notably residents. His scholarship is rooted in a dedication to bridging theory and practice in ways that confront power, center community knowledge, and advance social change, as exemplified through his direction of the Neighborly Engagement Research Lab (NERLab), which serves as both a rigorous research space and a hands-on learning environment in which students and community members co-produce knowledge.
International Research Award: Nicole Webster
The International Research Award recognizes excellence in research and scholarship that advances the study and practice of service-learning and community engagement within and/or across borders and cultures, expanding knowledge on cultural, regional, and national practices in service-learning and community engagement theory and practice, especially work that engage with non-US contexts. Dr. Nicole Webster, who serves as the Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in the College of Health and Human Development at Pennsylvania State University, and a Professor in the Department of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management, is celebrated for her remarkable work and her innate ability to translate her work to multiple communities. Her scholarship and leadership exemplify the highest standards of academic excellence, community engagement, and equity-driven praxis. Dr. Webster's scholarship incorporates facets of youth development, civic engagement, and equity in public spaces, particularly in relation to historically marginalized youth in domestic and international settings, expanding our collective understanding of how educational and civic spaces can either limit or liberate marginalized voices. Her approach centers on participatory, culturally grounded research that integrates lived experience with academic rigor, empowering communities to co-create knowledge and drive transformative change. This has led to the development of the Holistic Civic Lens to measure youths’ civic identities and the Pan-African Civic Framework, used in various African diasporic settings to understand youth civic experiences.
Publication of the Year Award: JCES Special Issue: Immigration and Immigrant Community Engagement: Democracy Realized through Immigrant Integration of the Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship
This Publication of the Year Award acknowledges and celebrates scholarly work that has had a significant impact on the study and/or practice of service-learning and community engagement, including the communities, cultures, and systems within which it is undertaken. IARSLCE is proud to announce the Special Issue, Immigration and Immigrant Community Engagement: Democracy Realized through Immigrant Integration, published in the Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship (JCES), as the recipient of this year’s award. Co-edited by Dr. Darlene Xiomara Rodriguez, Associate Professor of Social Work and Human Services at Kennesaw State University, and Dr. Paul N. McDaniel, Associate Professor of Geography at Kennesaw State University, this multi-year project aimed to document community-engaged research by, with, and for immigrant communities, alongside the organizations that champion their integration into society. The special issue highlighted a diverse interdisciplinary collaborative effort from students, community members, policymakers, practitioners, and scholars to examine U.S. immigration policy, practice, and the organizations that facilitate immigrant integration. This special issue represents a powerful and timely intervention in the critical discourse surrounding immigrant integration and significantly advances knowledge, deepens research and practice in service-learning and community engagement (SLCE), and impacts policy. The publication is a testament to the indispensable work of social sector organizations, demonstrating their role as a vital lifeline providing essential services, advocating for immigrant rights, and actively fostering social cohesion.
Dissertation Award: Shilohna Phillanders
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. Dr. Shilohna Phillanders earned her PhD in International Comparative Education from Beijing Normal University, China, and earned both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in International Relations and Global Affairs from The University of the West Indies. Through her dissertation, she displays exceptional intellectual leadership and promises to reinvigorate the field of service-learning, particularly in underserved regions. Her work is grounded in a commitment to social justice, with research and practice centering on empowering learners and educators to interrogate and transform systemic inequities through experiential and community-rooted approaches. Her nominators noted that her dissertation introduces the conceptualization of "eco-autoethnography," which has "broad implications for how scholars and practitioners of service-learning can more fully know themselves and the communities with which they serve". Her work is firmly grounded in the belief that education must be a catalyst for liberation.
Community Outcomes and Impact Award: Ashley Westaway
The Community Outcomes and Impact Award recognizes excellence in service-learning and community-engaged research that significantly advances community outcomes and impacts, specifically acknowledging research that has had a significant benefit to an organization or program, and/or measurably benefited a community. Dr. Ashley Westaway, the Manager of GADRA Education in Makhanda, South Africa, is celebrated for his lasting impact on education, community development, and social innovation in Makhanda and surrounding areas. Dr. Westaway's work is driven by the vision to conceptualize and facilitate the educational transformation of Makhanda, aiming for it to emerge as the leading academic educational center and city in South Africa. Since becoming Manager in late 2011, Dr. Westaway has been instrumental in revitalizing and repositioning GADRA Education as Rhodes University’s largest feeder school and biggest producer of graduates, creating countless opportunities for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. He also successfully restored the financial stability of the organization, ensuring its long-term sustainability. His leadership has left an indelible mark on the region and its people.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award: Imandeep Kaur Grewal
The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award recognizes excellence in research and scholarship that advances diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the study and practice of service-learning and community engagement (SLCE). Dr. Imandeep Kaur Grewali is an Associate Professor in the Department of Teacher Education and Director of the Office for Place-Based Education at Eastern Michigan University. Dr. Grewal is celebrated for her commitment to justice, joy, healing, and liberation, actively resisting dichotomies, and thriving in the "hyphenated spaces" between research-teaching-practice-learning-scholarship-healing-and living. As a qualitative, community, place, and arts-based scholar, Dr. Grewal’s approach consistently involves students and community partners as colleagues in all aspects of her work, ensuring that the voices of those whose stories are being told are integral to shaping, conducting, and disseminating the research.
Public Scholarship Award: Nafisa Nipun Tanjeem
The Public Scholarship Award recognizes excellent interdisciplinary research that has a demonstrable ameliorative impact on pressing public issues, with a special focus on the knowledge needs of policymakers and practitioners. Dr. Nafisa Nipun Tanjeem is an Associate Professor in the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies at Worcester State University in Massachusetts. Dr. Tanjeem identifies as a transnational feminist scholar-teacher-activist. Her public scholarship is deeply rooted in a transnational feminist, anti-racist, and decolonial framework, addressing the everyday experiences and concerns of various minoritized and marginalized communities. She is recognized for her ability to explain complex theories and concepts in an accessible way, presenting concrete evidence to support her arguments. Published on platforms without paywalls and with a commitment to linguistic accessibility, producing scholarship in both English and Bangla, Dr. Tanjeem's work epitomizes engaged scholarship and has generated significant debates and collaborations among social justice activists and policymakers globally.
Congratulations to the recipients of the IARSLCE awards. Thank you to all of the nominators and to the association members who participated in the review process to determine this year's recipients. Recipients will be honored in a celebration during the IARSLCE Conference in Durban in August 2025. Please join IARSLCE and learn more about upcoming events and opportunities offered by the association.