Selection Criteria and Eligibility
This award recognizes an early career sociologist for outstanding community-engaged scholarship conducted through partnership with community-based organizations or community members for the purpose of advancing knowledge that supports efforts at community development and/or social justice broadly defined.
Community-engaged scholarship involves mutually beneficial partnerships between professional/college/university researchers and members of the public or non-profit sectors at the local, regional/state, national, and global levels. The purpose of these collaborations is to share resources and generate knowledge that advances community-driven efforts to address pressing societal issues, often related to social justice and equity, and contribute to the public good.
The Early Career Award for Community-Engaged Scholarship is given annually to an ASA member within 10 years of completion of the terminal degree at the time of submission deadline.
The award committee will consider the nature of the partnership(s), the quality and relevance of the scholarship, and its impact in terms of contribution to community development and/or social justice goals, and, if relevant, to sociological or public knowledge.
To review examples of Community-Engaged Scholarship, click here.
Nomination Procedures
Nomination packages must include:
- the nominee’s vita;
- a detailed one to two-page statement written by the nominee that describes the nominee’s community engaged scholarship. The statement must address the nature of the partnership(s), the quality and relevance of the scholarship, and its impact in terms of contribution to community development and/or social justice goals, and, if relevant, to sociological or public knowledge.
- One letter of recommendation by a scholar (normally written by the nominator, but in cases of self-nomination, written by another scholar).
- One letter of recommendation by a nominee’s community partner; If the nominee believes that requiring a letter from a community partner would create an undue burden on the partner, the candidate can include a one-sentence statement to that effect in the application and the letter will be waived.
- Optionally, evidence supporting the claims made in the nomination statement.
In addition to the nomination materials described above, complete and submit the required nomination form.
Nominations can be considered for five years, but they are not automatically renewed. Each year, nominators will be asked if they wish to renew their nominations for consideration, as long as they remain within ten years of completion of the terminal degree. If a renewal is requested, nominators will be invited to submit updated information or additional materials and are required to respond again to the ethics question.
All awardees must be current ASA members at the time of the award ceremony at the Annual Meeting. One need not be a member to be nominated for an award. All nominators must be current members. Please also be aware of ASA’s ethics disclosure and award revocation policies.
Submit nominations for the 2026 award to [email protected] by January 1, 2026.
2026 Selection Committee Members
The selection committee is composed of six members, each serving a staggered three-year term. Members are appointed from among the Association membership by the Council based on the recommendation of the Committee on Committees.
Elizabeth Borland, The College of New Jersey
Carol Glasser, Minnesota State University-Mankato
Doug Hartmann, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
LaShaune Johnson, University of Houston
Rebecca London, University of California-Santa Cruz
Gregory Squires, George Washington University
Past Recipients
2026 Sarah Brothers, Pennsylvania State University
2026 David J. Knight, Yale University