Description

The AACP Lawrence C. Weaver Transformative Community Service Award is presented annually to one college or school of pharmacy demonstrating a major institutional commitment to addressing unmet community needs through education, practice and research. This commitment should be demonstrated through the development of exceptional programs that go well beyond the traditional service role of academic pharmacy. The award highlights community service as an important element of the academic mission and recognizes institutions that can serve as examples of social responsiveness in the academic pharmacy community. This award aligns with Accreditation Council for Pharmaceutical Education (ACPE) standards and the Center for the Advancement for Pharmaceutical Education (CAPE) educational outcomes. The award is totally independent of the type of college/school submitting the application: public, private, small, or large. It demonstrates commitment to a community achieving transformative community service rather than any preconceived status. 

Approach

The award recipient must have a broad-based, continual commitment to community service as reflected in a variety of programs and initiatives that are responsive to community and social needs and that show evidence of a true partnership with the community(ies). The basis of this award is the evidence of the curriculum connectedness to how such service programs are integrated into education, practice models, and the research program that achieves the mission of the college/school in working with the community to address and improve public health. In order to demonstrate the degree and impact of the commitment to community service, schools/colleges of pharmacy are urged to consider the impact on the community as well as on their faculty, staff, current students, alumni, and other pertinent stakeholders. 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 award selection committee is especially interested in programs that are directly linked to the institution’s research endeavor (e.g., community engaged participatory research) and to the education (didactic & experiential) of pharmacy students, residents, and other post-graduate trainees. The relationship of programs to the Healthy People 2020 goals, the Healthy People 2030 Framework, and the 2013 CAPE Educational Outcomes should also be emphasized. 

Community Service Program Criteria

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

• demonstration of the institution’s mission. vision, and core values as it relates to community engagement (e.g., Office of Community Engagement, Carnegie Community Engagement Classification) 
• projects developed and delivered by faculty, students, practitioners, and alumni that are explicitly part of the institution’s mission; 
• innovative, scholarly evidence-based programs of patient care/service to disadvantaged communities; 
• programs of education targeted at increasing the awareness of health profession opportunities to traditionally underrepresented groups*; 
• leadership focusing institutional and community resources to respond to health needs such as prevention and health education, patient care, and social and supportive services; 
• curriculum (including didactic, service learning and/or experiential) that provides students with educational experiences in underserved areas to encourage eventual practice in such communities; 
• demonstration of broad-based full-time faculty involvement (e.g., curriculum development/delivery, delivery of patient services); 
• programs that address social needs in a health-related context. 

*Underrepresented groups include special populations (e.g., individuals from certain ethnic groups) or underserved (e.g., economically disadvantaged) population