Grants & Awards
Supporting people and communities whose projects and programs solve problems and support progress.
Community Engagement Scholarship Awards
The Carnegie Foundation describes community engagement as “the collaboration between institutions of higher education and their larger communities for the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources in a context of partnership and reciprocity.”
As a Carnegie Community Engaged University and land-grant institution, engagement is among Colorado State’s most important core missions. As articulated in its Strategic Plan, CSU will engage with people and communities to solve problems, share knowledge, and support progress, increasing the university’s relevance and value to the State of Colorado, the nation, and the world.
The CSU Community Engagement Scholarship Awards, jointly established by the Office of the Provost and Office of Engagement and Extension, will be conferred annually in recognition of exemplary engaged scholarship by CSU faculty or academic staff members and their community partner(s).
Award categories and stipends
Award stipends are to be used to support existing or proposed engagement activities of the selected program.
Distinguished Community Engagement Scholarship Award
In recognition of a collaboration, project or program with a long-term record of sustained impact, achievement and scholarship (one at $3,000).
Emerging Community Engagement Scholarship Award
In recognition of a relatively new initiative that has shown potential for long-term impact, achievement and scholarship (one at $1,000)
Exceptional Achievement in Community Engaged Learning Awards
A series of awards presented each year to a student, an instructor, and a community partner who demonstrate remarkable contributions to Community Engaged and Service-Learning programs and to university and community partnerships. Nominate someone today.
The winner of the Distinguished Community Engagement Scholarship Award is expected to be eligible and competitive for prestigious national awards such as the:
C. Peter Magrath Community Engagement Scholarship Award
Eligibility
Who’s eligible?
- All current CSU faculty and instructors (including adjunct appointments) and staff (including program directors, Extension, and research appointments) are eligible.
- It is expected that a major portion of the engaged scholarship will have been accomplished while the nominee served as a faculty or academic staff member at Colorado State University.
- Nominees for the Distinguished Community Engagement Scholarship Award are expected to have collaborated with their partners for a minimum of three years.
Nominations
Who can nominate?
Faculty, administrators, colleagues, students, or community partners can initiate nominations; self-nominations are also welcome. It is expected that nominees will be aware of the nomination and will participate significantly in the preparation of the application.
Find additional information on nominations and the review procedure using the link below.
2026 Emerging Community Engagement Scholarship Award – CSU-TAPS Program
Colorado State University’s Testing Ag Performance Solutions (CSU-TAPS) program is a nationally recognized community–university partnership that advances sustainable agricultural management through producer-centered, data-driven learning. The CSU-TAPS program brings together agricultural producers, industry partners, students, agency staff, and university researchers in a growing-season-long farm management competition hosted at CSU’s Agricultural Research, Development, and Education Center (ARDEC).
The team’s engaged, collaborative approach addresses real-world producer needs, integrating industry and academic knowledge, and driving innovative thinking and practice. Producers have gained insights from their peer competitors and experience using new technologies to guide their management decisions. Industry partners have gained key insights on how to improve technologies and tools to address producer needs. Researchers have gained a broader understanding of the agronomic and economic outcomes of diverse producer-defined management scenarios and what motivates producer decisions. The team’s leadership has nurtured the expansion of TAPS into a national program through multi-state university and industry partnerships, supported by $9 million in funding awarded by USDA-NRCS.
By integrating scholarship, extension, and experiential learning, the CSU-TAPS Team strengthens agricultural resilience while advancing CSU’s land-grant mission of engaged, solutions-oriented research and education.
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