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The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi today announced Longwood University as the 2022 recipient of its Excellence in Innovation Award. The $100,000 award, given biennially, recognizes Longwood University for its achievement in finding a powerful solution to explore unresolved civic issues through the Brock Experiences for Transformational Learning program.

“Today we celebrate Longwood University’s teaching of civic engagement through a model of embedding transformational learning in their core curriculum,” said Society Executive Director and CEO Dr. Bradley R. Newcomer. “Longwood’s innovative courses and pedagogies supported by the Brock Experiences Program exemplify the transformative solutions our Excellence in Innovation Award is designed to recognize.”

Kickstarted in 2016, Brock Experiences are Longwood’s suite of signature courses that take students outside of the traditional classroom to explore unresolved civic issues while preparing them for both citizenship and success after college. The courses are focused on three central components, an unresolved civic issue, place-based pedagogy and transdisciplinary inquiry for more integrated learning. Through these transformative experiences, students develop skills to understand matters of civic importance from a variety of perspectives while building capacity to engage these matters as citizen leaders.

To facilitate the creation of the courses, the university established innovative faculty fellowships designed to provide the foundational skills necessary to achieve such a field course while also supporting the broader educational goals of the institution – the development of citizen leaders who are prepared to make positive contributions to the common good of society.

Longwood, on behalf of its efforts through the Brock Experiences for Transformational Learning, was selected as the 2022 recipient of the Excellence in Innovation Award by a jury during a two-part screening process. The university was first chosen as one of six semifinalists before advancing as one of three finalists. The pool of entries represented inventive, multifaceted projects at institutions across the United States. Each institution was assessed on its project’s ability to achieve meaningful, measurable outcomes to create systemic large-scale change.

“Longwood is proud of the innovative work of our faculty who have developed pedagogical methods that engage students in unresolved civic issues in places as far afield as Yellowstone National Park, Alaska, the Arizona borderland, the Colorado River basin, and the Chesapeake Bay,” said Longwood President, W. Taylor Reveley IV. “We are grateful to Phi Kappa Phi for this meaningful award, which we hope will encourage others in higher education who are serious about preparing students for democracy, and which will help support our programs here, allowing more Longwood students to participate in these transformative learning experiences.”

Longwood will accept the Excellence in Innovation Award at Phi Kappa Phi’s Biennial Convention in Orlando, Florida on August 5, 2022.

Since 1932, Phi Kappa Phi has awarded fellowships and grants to members and students on its chapter campuses. Currently the Society gives more than $1 million through its award and grant programs that last year recognized over 300 individuals. The Excellence in Innovation Award, first awarded in 2016, is the Society’s only award for institutions.

For more details and to see the finalist and honorable mention portfolios, please visit www.phikappaphi.org/innovation.

About Phi Kappa Phi

Founded in 1897, Phi Kappa Phi is the nation’s oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines. The Society’s mission is “To recognize and promote academic excellence in all fields of higher education and engage the community of scholars in service to others.” For more information, visit www.PhiKappaPhi.org.