Click here to read the full nomination guidelines for the 2025 Award.

Opal Mann Green and the Award

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, and
• Community-based learning and mutually-beneficial action around local issues valued by community members.

She exhibited these values throughout her career, family life, and community volunteer life. Dr. Opal Hurley Mann Green, former 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 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.

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. The seven characteristics include responsiveness, respect for partners, academic neutrality, accessibility, integration, coordination, and resource partnerships. 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.

Eligible teams can include community partners, staff, volunteers, and faculty of NC State University colleges and its extension, engagement, and economic development units. The qualifying characteristics to be considered in the nomination process are listed below.

Qualifying Characteristics

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 Engagement Seven Part Test 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).

Submission information

Submission instructions

Submission deadline: Friday, January 24, 2025, 5 p.m.

Nomination form: https://go.ncsu.edu/omgaward

Past Winners

• 2024: Research Triangle Nanotechnology Network
• 2023: Language & Life Project
• 2022: Coastal Dynamics Design Lab
• 2021: Vacationer Supported Agriculture
• 2020: Northeast Leadership Academy
• 2019: Community Food Strategies
• 2018: The Community Counseling, Education, and Research Center
• 2017: North Carolina Food Youth Initiative
• 2016: North Carolina Food Youth Initiative
• 2015: VOLAR: Voluntarios Ahora en Raleigh
  Voices into Action: The Families, Food, and Health Project
  North Carolina Community Garden Partners
• 2014: Sandhills SET Green Fields Initiative
  Landscape Architecture (LAR) Design/Build Studio
• 2013: Democratic Pathways to Change: Center for Family and Community Engagement
  North Carolina Fresh Produce Safety Task Force
• 2012: Center for Environmental Farming Systems
• 2011: Helping Early Literacy with Practice Strategies
• 2010: Wake County Nonprofit Board Communication and Development Initiative