Save the date for Pitt’s Community Engaged Scholarship Forum on March 4

Each year, Pitt elevates, celebrates and reflects on collective approaches to community-engaged scholarship at the University at the annual Community Engaged Scholarship Forum (CESF).

CESF provides an opportunity for faculty, students, staff and community members to present their community engagement work, discover new avenues of partnership, network and celebrate Pitt's commitment to being welcoming and engaged.

This year's theme, “Reducing Barriers, Creating Opportunity,” continues the 2024 forum’s conversation around the vital conditions for community resilience. The forum will showcase cross-sector and multiorganization approaches to community-informed scholarship that reduces barriers for the region.

Attendees will learn from public policy, research and nonprofit leaders working to create systems integration approaches that connect and coordinate different programs and initiatives to become more human-centered, data-driven and cost-effective. 

The forum is 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. March 4 in the William Pitt Union.

Award nominations are open

In addition to hosting workshops and poster sessions, the forum also serves as the venue to honor projects with awards including the Partnerships of Distinction, the Soska and Wilds Outreach and Engagement Leadership and the CESF Collaboration Champion awards.

2025 Partnerships of Distinction

The Partnerships of Distinction awards recognize outstanding partnerships that are exemplars of community engagement. Up to three awardees may be chosen annually. Each award consists of a $2,000 operating grant to support partnership activities. All awardees are honored publicly. Submit a nomination for the Partnerships of Distinction.

2025 CESF Collaboration Champion Award

The CESF Collaboration Champion Award recognizes a member of the University of Pittsburgh community or a community partner who has made significant contributions to the Pitt’s culture of collaboration, further sustaining and supporting the institution’s commitment to strengthening communities through teamed work. The award is open to any member of the greater Pittsburgh region. Submit a nomination for the CESF Collaboration Champion Award.

2025 Tracy Soska and John Wilds Outreach and Engagement Leadership Award

The Tracy Soska and John Wilds Outreach and Engagement Leadership Award honors a faculty member or staff engagement professional who serves Pitt through their outstanding dedication to University-community connections. Through their contributions, the awardee strengthens our institution’s knowledge, understanding, practice and reflection on the opportunities of community-based collaboration. Nominees must have been employed by the University for at least five years from award conferral (on or before March 7, 2019). Submit a nomination for the Soska and Wilds Award.

Workshop proposals and poster presentations

While the individual efforts of teams and communities have resulted in shining examples of what is possible through engaged scholarship, our society requires increasingly interconnected approaches to problem solving that result in partnerships advancing multiple aspects of community resilience. CESF invites you to explore opportunities to work across organizations, disciplines and sets of solutions that mobilize previously disconnected efforts in creative ways. Submit a workshop proposal or a poster presentation.

Photography by Aimee Obidzinski