Student Awards

Each year, the Swearer Center recognizes our outstanding undergraduate and graduate students with awards. These include:

Nominations have now closed. The next cycle will open up again in Spring 2025. 

Undergraduate Awards

Engaged Scholarship Award (for Undergraduate Students)

The Engaged Scholarship Award recognizes a graduating senior who has made community-engaged scholarship integral to their undergraduate experience. [Note: This award is open to any graduating senior, not only to participants in Brown’s Engaged Scholarship Certificate.]

Awardees

2023Leona Hariharan '23 and Roshan Sapkota '23
2022: Alexa Ara '22 and Tiffany Thomas '22
2021: Emily Ma '21 and Sumera Subzwari '21
2020: Tabitha Payne '20 and Katherine (Katie) Vasquez '20​
2019: Maya Singh '19
2018: Kai Salem '18


Abelardo Hernández Community Engagement Award

The Community Engagement Award recognizes one graduating senior who has worked with a community partner for more than two years. This student will have built strong relationships with community members and practitioners and have added significant capacity to the partner’s work, with an eye towards sustainability beyond their own role.

In 2021, the Community Engagement Award was renamed to honor former staff member, Abelardo Hernández, who made a significant impact in the Providence community and passed away due to COVID-19. 

Awardees

2023: Sarah Packer '23
2022: Gabriel Mernoff '22 and Breanna Cadena '22
2021: Naotaro (Nari) Kato '21 and Sarah Koppelman '21
2020: Nathaniel Pettit '20
2019: Fahim Mahmud '19
2018: Diem-Khanh (Nini) Nguyen '18 and Gabriel Zimmerman '18
2017: Brandon Dale '17, Bruna Lee '17, and  Nina Schield '17


Student Leadership Award

The Student Leadership Award recognizes one graduating senior who has helped the Swearer Center to expand its work, reach more students, and/or improve our efforts to work with a diverse range of students, faculty, and community members.

Awardees

2023: Aaron Castillo '23 and Elbie Seibert '23
2022: Ishani Mehta '22, Kimberly Collins '22 and Madison Mandel '22
2021: Morgan Brinker '21, Jenny Lee '21, and Idalmis Lopez '21
2020: Tafari Williams '20
2019: Anna Fireman '19 and Sam Reidt '19
2018: Emerson Wells '18
2017: Olivia Veira '17


Derek Canfield Barker Community-Engaged Athletic Award *New Award*

The Derek Canfield Barker Community-Engaged Athletic Award recognizes one student who has participated in sports at Brown (varsity or club level) and has demonstrated strong commitment to community impact, especially through engagement in the Providence community. This student will also have demonstrated leadership amongst their peers and have built strong relationships with community members and practitioners. 

Graduate Awards

Engaged Scholarship Award (for Graduate Students)

The Engaged Scholarship Award recognizes a Brown graduate student (Ph.D., Masters, M.D., or other graduate programs) who has made community-engaged scholarship integral to their graduate experience. For more information, visit the Opportunities for Graduate Students page.

Awardees

2023: Megan Feragne
2022: Margaret Goddard
2021: Jocelyn Bell and Scarlett Bergam
2020: prabhdeep singh kehal and Anar Parikh
2019: Laura Garbes
2018: Meg Caven