The Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health is proud to announce the inception of the ASPPH Harrison C. Spencer Award for Outstanding Community Service. This annual award honors an ASPPH-member school or program with a long-standing, major institutional commitment to engage with communities to improve public health, and recognizes exceptional community service initiatives that address community needs.

Nominations for the 2018 award, that will be presented at the 2018 ASPPH Annual Meeting in Arlington, VA March 7-9, 2018, are open to submissions until August 31.

The award was established by the ASPPH Board of Directors to recognize Dr. Harrison C. Spencer, the late president and CEO of the Association, and his lifelong commitment to community service and social justice.

Criteria for Award

The ASPPH Harrison C. Spencer Award for Outstanding Community Service is awarded to up to one ASPPH-member, CEPH-accredited school or program of public health, demonstrating a major institutional commitment to addressing community needs through education, practice, and/or research. The commitment should be demonstrated through the development and implementation of exceptional programs that engage a community to improve public health. The award recipient must have an ongoing commitment to community service as reflected in programs and initiatives that are responsive to community needs and exhibit a meaningful partnership with the community (or communities). Such communities do not need to be geographical in nature or geographically adjacent to the school or program.

The award is not intended to honor any one specialized service program or individual, but rather to recognize instances where a broad-based collaboration has developed between the nominee and the community served.

The types of programs appropriate for consideration may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Demonstration of the institution’s mission, vision, and core values as it relates to community engagement;
• Community service projects developed and delivered by faculty, students, practitioners, and alumni that are explicitly part of the institution’s mission;
• Innovative, scholarly, evidence-based programs that engage a community to improve health;
• Development, integration, and application of new knowledge to improve public health in the population and practice in the community;
• Scholarship that includes discovery, synthesis, integration, and application to public health practice;
• Leadership focusing institutional and community resources to prevent injuries and diseases and to respond to public health needs;
• Programs that use the unique assets and resources of the institution to address continuing educational, economic, and/or community identified needs; and
• Programs that address social justice issues in a public health-related context.

Find complete information on the nomination process on the award page. If you have any questions about the process and award, contact Ms. Emily Jackson, manager of meetings and membership services.