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Outreach & Engagement

The Opal Mann Green Engagement and Scholarship Award

This award recognizes teams practicing collaborative, democratic and inclusive engaged scholarship. Winners are eligible for nomination for the W. K. Kellogg Foundation Community Engagement Scholarship Award.

Submission Information

  • Deadline: Friday, January 23, 2026 at 5 p.m.
  • Nomination form: https://go.ncsu.edu/omgaward
  • Eligibility: teams can include community partners, staff, volunteers, and faculty of NC State University colleges and its extension, engagement, and economic development units.
  • Please review the complete submission instructions

This annual recognition is awarded to a team (or teams) of individuals whose significant contributions and accomplishments have demonstrated excellence as engaged scholars who practice collaborative democratic strategies reflected in the Kellogg Commission Seven Part Test in Engagement (described below). The recognition rewards authentic teamwork across the organizational structures within the university and community. It reflects programs that have been valued by the community and mutually beneficial to partners.

Qualifying Characteristics

The Opal Mann Green Engagement and Scholarship Award was established in 2010 to recognize and memorialize Dr. Opal Mann Green’s distinguished leadership and dedication to the values of:

  • Using democracy in the classroom, in the community, and at home
  • Creating teams with a wide array of stakeholders
  • Community-based learning and mutually-beneficial action around local issues valued by community members.

The characteristics listed below should be woven into a continuous narrative that describes the success of the engagement program. Tell the story of your engagement program success keeping these characteristics in mind.

  • Engagement. Describe how the team of primary leaders implemented the Kellogg Commission Seven Part Test in Engagement in planning, implementation, and continuous improvement of the program.
  • Empowerment and Teamwork. Describe how you implemented (democratic) strategies that empowered team members, created a welcoming environment, recognized contributions of partners, and negotiated democratically to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes. Describe how resource partnerships developed to support program sustainability and effectively address the issue or problem until resolved.
  • Outcomes and Impact. Describe accomplishments that were beneficial, valued by the community, and that informed engagement academically (scholarly articles, presentations, and poster sessions).

Evaluation Criteria 

The narrative for the award application should illustrate with documentation that the team of primary leaders for the project model the Kellogg Commission Seven Part Test of Engagement in planning, implementation, and continuous improvement. These guiding characteristics include:

  • Responsiveness
  • Respect for Partners
  • Academic neutrality
  • Accessibility
  • Integration
  • Coordination
  • Resource partnerships

These characteristics are folded into the reviewers’ points-based rubric, described in more detail in the submission guidelines. 

About Opal Mann Green

Dr. Opal Hurley Mann Green, a former NC State faculty member and leader at the county, state, and national level within Cooperative Extension, led an illustrious professional career spanning from 1943 to 1982, and then served as a community leader until her death in 2009.

Her lifelong teaching, leadership, and positive modeling to others was congruent with John Dewey’s ideas of democracy in education, and in the community. She exhibited these values throughout her career, family life and community volunteer life. Read more about Dr. Green’s life and work. 

Past Winners