CELTS Awards

Loyola University Chicago and the Center for Engaged Learning, Teaching, & Scholarship award Community Engagement Awards to undergraduate students or groups of students who participated in either a Service-Learning or Academic Internship Engaged Learning course during the 2026-2027 academic year. Students who are good candidates for this award would have demonstrated some of the following during their engaged learning courses:

• A dedication to social justice in their work
• A lasting impact with a community agency through their engagement
• Demonstrated a deep concern for the environment or local community

Faculty, staff, and representatives of community organizations are asked to submit nominations for students or groups of students. These awards will be announced at the Student Excellence Awards on Thursday, April 15, 2027.

Nominations for the 2026-2027 Community Engagement Award will open in November 2026.

The Loyola University Community Partner Award for Coeducation is given to a non-profit community organization who hosted one or more undergraduate Engaged Learning students since Spring 2026, and that best exemplifies the role of a community partner who co-educates and supports our Loyola students. As a co-educator, the partner creates space for learning through collaboration with their organization.

The Community Partner Award for Coeducation exists to recognize and celebrate partner organizations that not only do great work for their community but also undertake additional effort to serve as partners in education by working with Loyola students at their organizations.

Faculty, staff, and community organization representatives (self-nominations are welcome) are asked to submit nominations. These awards will be announced during the annual Community Partner Gathering in Summer 2027.

Nominations for the 2026-2027 Community Partner Award for Coeducation will open in November 2026.

A learning portfolio (ePortfolio) is a digital collection that demonstrates a student’s work over time, featuring skills, abilities, values, experiences, and reflections. The Learning Portfolio Award will be given to students who cultivated and curated a portfolio throughout a program or academic course at Loyola University Chicago. Students, faculty, and staff submit nominations for students who created learning portfolios in Fall 2026 or Spring 2027.

Each portfolio will be reviewed and evaluated based on the four learning outcomes below.

1. Synthesize learning from experience through reflection, applying outside-the-classroom learning with inside-the-classroom learning.
2. Critically reflect upon intellectual, personal, professional, and civic learning within the context of the student experience at Loyola.
3. Demonstrate knowledge, skills, and values acquired through reflecting on their experiences.
4. Articulate connections to Social Justice and the Jesuit Mission of Loyola.

Faculty, staff, and students may submit nominations.  These awards will be announced during the Student Excellence Awards Ceremony on Thursday, April 15th, 2027. Selected students will receive a monetary award through the Financial Aid Office.

Nominations for the 2026-2027 Learning Portfolio Award are now CLOSED. 

Graduate Student Mentor Award

The Graduate Student Mentor Award has been established to recognize and reward the exceptional work of Loyola's graduate student mentors in the area of mentoring undergraduate researchers. Nominees must be current Loyola Graduate Students. Nominations can come from current undergraduate students only.

These awards will be announced during the Student Excellence Awards on Thursday, April 15th, 2027. 

Nominations for the 2026-2027 Graduate Student Mentor Award will open in November 2026.

Langerbeck Award for Undergraduate Student Mentoring

This award recognizes and rewards the exceptional work of Loyola's faculty in the area of undergraduate research. Mentors must be employed at Loyola University Chicago. Only undergraduate students of Loyola may nominate faculty.  This award carries an honorarium.

These awards will be announced during University Convocation in August 2027.

Nominations for the 2026-2027 Mary Therese Langerbeck BVM Award for Undergraduate Student Mentoring will open in November 2026.

Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award

The Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award has been established to honor Loyola undergraduates who conduct exceptional research, articulate their research to others, and enhance Loyola’s reputation as a quality research university by integrating research into their academic learning experience. Nominees must be Loyola undergraduates who conducted research during the 2025-2026 academic year. The multiple winners will receive a monetary honorarium.

These awards will be announced during the Student Excellence Awards on Thursday, April 15th, 2027. 

Nominations for the 2026-2027 Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award will open in November 2026.

Adolfo Nicolas SJ Excellence in Engaged Learning and Teaching Award

This award recognizes an instructor who brings imagination and dedication to an Engaged Learning course in the spirit of former Superior of the Jesuits Adolfo Nicolas SJ's quote: "Depth of thought and imagination in the Ignatian tradition involves a profound engagement with the real, a refusal to let go until one goes beneath the surface." 

• The instructor must have taught an Engaged Learning course during the previous or current school year. Engaged Learning categories include:
  • Academic Internship
  • Public Performance
  • Fieldwork
  • Service-Learning
  • Undergraduate Research
• Award nominees will have shown excellence in incorporating and centering the Engaged Learning experiences in the curriculum and leveraging them to impact student learning.
• This award is open to all LUC instructors (tenure-track, non-tenure-track, and adjunct)
• Nominees will be asked to submit their CV,  teaching statement, response to the award prompt, and the name of one additional reference for their engaged learning teaching.
• Nominations can be submitted by students, staff, community partners, or faculty colleagues. There are no self-nominations, and the winner will be announced at the Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium.
• This award carries an honorarium.

These awards will be announced during University Convocation in August 2027.

Nominations for the 2026-2027 Adolfo Nicolas SJ Excellence in Engaged Learning and Teaching Award will open in November 2026.

Additional information on each of the recipients and their nominators can be found in this slideshow:

Community Engagement Awards

• Bradley Orzada - Sarah's Inn
• Hibah Bakhtier - Forging Opportunities for Refugees in America (FORA)
• Jules Crocker - Chicago Waldorf School
• Luca Garzelloni - Joel Nafuma Refugee Center
• Maddie O'Brien - Chicago Lights
• Noor Hayat - Wheeling Police Department
• Rebecca Graham - Intrinsic Schools
• Shoshana Green - Access Living

Community Partner Award for Co-Education

• GirlForward
• Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum

Learning Portfolio Awards

• Kellie Wu - Nursing

Adolfo Nicolas SJ Excellence in Engaged Learning and Teaching Award

• Minwoo Jung - Sociology & Women and Gender Studies
• Stephanie Grella - Neuroscience

Research Awards

Outstanding Undergraduate Research Awards

• Aasrita Tulluri
• Alexsa Salvador Midamba
• Asha Behrman
• Brady Mudge
• Bridget Baumbich
• Elizabeth Mauk
• Kaetlyn Khoury
• Kody Bruce
• Maddie Juarez
• Sydney Shimizu

Graduate Student Mentor Award

• Julianna Adornetti - Clinical Psychology

Langerbeck Award for Undergraduate Research Mentoring

• Zhandarka Kurti - Criminal Justice and Criminology
• Polina Pine - Chemistry