The Lang Center for Civic & Social Responsibility has been awarded the inaugural Campus Compact Excellence in Community-Engaged Partnerships Award.

This prestigious, new award celebrates outstanding collaborations between higher education institutions and their local communities, emphasizing initiatives that demonstrate reciprocity, accessibility, and substantial impact.

“We’re honored to have been chosen from among Campus Compact’s 500+ member institutions nationwide,” says Ben Berger, executive director of the Lang Center and associate professor of political science. “This is a joint award that also celebrates our dynamic community partners.”

The award highlights Swarthmore’s long-standing and mutually beneficial partnerships with Chester, Pa., particularly through the Chester-Swarthmore Fellows Council. Established in 2021, members of this advisory body — composed of Chester resident leaders — meet frequently with Lang Center faculty, staff, and students to consult on place-based initiatives, explore collaborative projects, and discuss long-term strategies. This partnership ensures that Swarthmore's efforts in Chester are informed, contextualized, and aligned with the community's needs and aspirations.

The Council, for example, meaningfully enriched the Chester Community Fellowship (CCF) and Chester Semester program. CCF, a long-standing Lang Center summer initiative funded through the Swarthmore Foundation, places students with a wide range of Chester-based internships. Chester Semester, a high-impact learning program that spans an academic year, was first implemented by Professor of Religion Mark Wallace and Lang Center Assistant Director Ashley Henry (and taught by Giovanna Di Chiro, professor of environmental studies). It combines a rigorous fall semester course on Chester history, politics, culture, education, and environmental issues, as well as complementary, yearlong Chester internships.

Chester-Swarthmore Council members reinvigorated both CCF and the Chester Semester by hosting interns, visiting classes, and working with faculty and staff to design the curricula in ways that appropriately represent Chester’s past and present. This year-round Chester programming supports community development while cultivating students as scholars, civic leaders, and public servants.

This year's recipients of the Excellence in Community-Engaged Partnerships Award also include Youth Action Lab and Lugo-McGinness Academy (University of Virginia), Liberal Arts Action Lab (Connecticut State Community College), Liberal Arts Action Lab (Trinity College), and University of Iowa’s Initiative for Sustainable Communities. Read more about the winners.

“We are honored to recognize these community-campus partnerships as the inaugural winners of the Campus Compact Excellence in Community-Engaged Partnership Awards,” says Bobbie Laur, Campus Compact president. “Effective, respectful, and mutually beneficial partnerships between campuses and communities are essential to creating the just and prosperous future we all seek.”

The recognition by Campus Compact underscores Swarthmore’s and the Lang Center’s national leadership in engaged liberal arts and in ethical, impactful, and reciprocal community engagement. Through a multitude of long-standing commitments, including but not limited to the Chester-Swarthmore Fellows Council and the Chester Community Fellowship, Swarthmore exemplifies how academic institutions can partner effectively and respectfully with local communities to enhance education while driving positive social change.