The inaugural honor was bestowed on the chancellor of UNC Greensboro at the Compact’s Civic Engagement Institute.
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In celebration of its 10th anniversary, North Carolina Campus Compact created and bestowed a new statewide award this month named in honor of Elon University President Leo M. Lambert.
The Leo M. Lambert Engaged Leader Award honors Lambert’s significant contributions in educating civically engaged graduates and strengthening communities and will be presented annually to a North Carolina college president or chancellor committed to creating and sustaining engagement that deeply impacts community and campus.
UNCG Chancellor Linda Brady was the inaugural recipient of the Lambert Award, given Feb. 15, 2012, during the Compact’s Civic Engagement Institute in Chapel Hill.
Widely recognized as a leader in facilitating deep, sustainable campus-community partnerships since becoming Elon’s eighth president in 1999, Lambert has advanced an agenda to establish Elon as a national leader in engaged teaching and learning, has contributed to the creation of a statewide Compact of engaged leaders and has received national recognition for innovative community-campus engagement.
According to Campus Compact President Maureen Curley, Lambert’s leadership will “help us realize the full potential of campus community engagement in the future.”
Lambert was instrumental in creating NC Campus Compact, serving as founding board chair, and hosts the Compact on Elon’s campus. He continues to serve as a board member and has served on the board of the national Campus Compact. He chairs the president’s council of Project Pericles, a national organization that encourages college students to be civically engaged, and served as a panelist at the White House launch of President Barack Obama’s Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenge.
The Compact also cited Lambert’s work to ensure that underrepresented students have the opportunity to go to and succeed in college, specifically highlighting the Elon Academy and the Watson and Odyssey programs.
In 2009, he received the inaugural William M. Burke Presidential Award for Excellence in Experiential Education from the National Society for Experiential Education. In 2010, he received the Periclean Service Award from Project Pericles.
As a prominent figure in North Carolina, Lambert has been named one of the “most influential leaders” for five consecutive years by the Triad Business Journal. He received the Thomas Z. Osborne Distinguished Citizen Award, the highest honor bestowed by the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce, and was named a “Father of the Year” by the American Diabetes Association Greater Greensboro Area Father’s Day Council.
North Carolina Campus Compact builds collaborations amongst public, independent and community colleges and universities. Presidents and chancellors commit their institutions to being “engaged campuses” that enhance a student’s sense of responsibility, citizenship, leadership and awareness of community, and impact the community by partnering with local organizations to address real needs.