“Engagement at Cornell is alive and well,” said Richard Kiely at the fourth annual Community Engagement Showcase, which attracted more than 200 people April 11.

Kiely, director of engaged learning and research for Engaged Cornell, called the showcase a time to “celebrate, collaborate and learn, and be inspired.”

Undergraduate and graduate students and faculty presented 42 projects that highlight community engagement at Cornell and span the globe from Ithaca to Honduras to India. The featured work developed out of class-based projects as well as co-curricular activities.

“This work of engagement is important,” said Cal Walker, outreach liaison in the Office of Community Relations and keynote speaker. “It enriches and improves the lives of others.”

Walker went on to discuss some of the important facets of effective community engagement: knowing your audience and their needs, respecting what the community brings to the partnership, and establishing a commitment to reciprocity or mutually beneficial outcomes.

“We must be intentional in our engagement to ensure we are working to our desired ends,” he said.

The showcase included an awards ceremony in addition to project presentations. This year, two Cornellians received Student Excellence in Community Engagement awards, which include a $1,500 prize to be split between the student and his or her community partner.

Shaibyaa Rajbhandari ’18 won for her project, “The Lion’s Club of Wailing City,” which gives goats to families and creates a source of continuous income for communities affected by Nepal’s 2015 earthquake. Adam Shelepak ’17 received an award for Anabel’s Grocery, a student-run initiative designed to combat food insecurity on the Cornell campus. Lisa Malloy ’16 earned an honorable mention for her work with The Fallen Tree Center for a Resilient Future.

The George D. Levy Engaged Teaching and Research Award went to Paula Horrigan, associate professor of landscape architecture, for her work on Rust to Green (R2G).

“This has been a labor of love,” Horrigan said of the program, which supports the revitalization of New York’s post-industrial cities and their shift from “rust” to “green” sustainable, resilient and prosperous places.

Honorable mentions went to two faculty members: Elizabeth Brundige, assistant clinical professor of law and executive director of the Avon Global Center for Women and Justice, for “Addressing the Right to be Free from Domestic Violence in Tompkins County”; and Steven Wolf, associate professor of natural resources, for the Nilgiris Field Learning Center.

Walker and student speakers Gabrielle Hickmon ’16 and Mai-Lee Picard ’16 received the Community Engagement Trailblazer Award.

The Showcase is sponsored by Engaged Cornell’s Engaged Learning and Research, the Public Service Center, the Office of Academic Diversity Initiatives and the Community Learning and Service Partnership.

Ashlee McGandy is a content strategist at Cornell.