PROVIDENCE, RI — Campus Compact has selected Dr. Richard Pan, Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at the University of California-Davis, as the recipient of the 2008 Thomas Ehrlich Faculty Award for Service-Learning. This national award is presented to one faculty member each year for outstanding contributions to the community through service-learning, a teaching and learning method that integrates community work into the curriculum.

Pan is founder and director of Communities and Physicians Together (CPT), a partnership between the University of California-Davis Health System and ten Sacramento-area community organizations. The group’s mission is to “give all individuals a healthy present and future by teaching physicians, both in training and in practice, how to make a difference through active community partnerships.” CPT pairs physicians-in-training with a specific community during their residency education to learn about the community and its health needs. Medical residents work over a three-year period to implement projects that promote health in the community. Since its founding in 1999, CPT has trained more than 100 future physicians using this asset-based community development approach.

“Dr. Pan is an innovative, inspiring, and high-impact leader in service-learning in medical education both at our institution and nationally,” says Claire Pomeroy, Vice Chancellor, Human Health Sciences, and Dean of the School of Medicine at UC Davis. She notes that “Dr. Pan and CPT have had a positive and inspiring impact on the UC Davis Health System” as well as on the community.

In addition to education, CPT facilitates community-based research and community service at the UC Davis Health System. Among other activities, Pan and the CPT staff direct community engagement activities for the National Children’s Study in Sacramento County, part of the largest study of the environmental influences on child health in the history of the United States. CPT also works to bring additional resources to the community, including applying for VISTA volunteers and partnering with the university’s Trauma Prevention Program to fund passenger safety education in area communities.

About the Ehrlich Award

This is the 14th year that Campus Compact has presented the Thomas Ehrlich Faculty Award for Service-Learning to recognize exemplary leadership in advancing the civic learning of students, including public scholarship, building campus commitment to service-learning and civic engagement, and fostering community partnerships. Recipients are chosen by an external panel of experts comprising campus and community representatives. Winning faculty members receive a $2,000 award as well as national recognition and a forum for promoting their work as a model for others. Campus Compact will present this year’s award at the annual meeting of the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) in January 2009, where Pan will lead a featured session.

The award drew a distinguished group of nominees from campuses across the United States, representing a broad range of institutional types. In addition to Pan, Campus Compact honors eight award finalists for their outstanding contributions to service-learning: Michael Cunningham of Tulane University (LA), Jennifer Evans-Cowley of The Ohio State University, Laurie Fowler and William Kisaalita of the University of Georgia, Carol Muller of the University of Pennsylvania, Anne Statham of the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, Jean Strait of Hamline University (MN), and Wayne Tanna of Chaminade University (HI).

More information on the Thomas Ehrlich Faculty Award for Service-Learning can be found at /awards/ehrlich.

About Campus Compact

Campus Compact is a nonprofit coalition of more than 1,100 college and university presidents—representing some 6 million students—who are committed to fulfilling the civic purposes of higher education. As the only national association dedicated to this mission, Campus Compact is a leader in building civic engagement into campus and academic life. For more information, visit /.