UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Efrain Marimon, assistant professor of education in the College of Education, has received Penn State's 2019 Outreach and Online Education Emerging Faculty Award for Engaged Scholarship.
The Emerging Faculty Outreach Award is a University-wide honor that recognizes early-career tenure-track and nontenure-track faculty members whose work has significant potential to advance engaged scholarship through teaching, research, and/or service. Their engaged scholarship work shows significant potential to influence societal issues on local, regional or national levels.
“In my 25 years as an academic administrator, I have never seen anyone who is as skilled as Marimon at reaching out across academic units to build powerful and sustainable outreach programs,” a nominator said.
Colleagues said Marimon excels at supervising and educating students while creating effective, creative and impactful educational opportunities to both the benefit of students and the community.
Marimon developed and now directs the D.C. Social Justice Teaching Fellowship, which is a collaboration project between the College of Education’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction, the Office of Multicultural Programs and Georgetown Law, of Washington, D.C. Through this program, students get hands-on experience in law, education, policy and systems of inequality through a field experience teaching students in under-resourced schools. Since beginning in 2015, more than 200 students have participated in the fellowship.
For the Restorative Justice Initiative at Penn State, which Marimon also developed and directs, University experts partner with community groups to provide educational opportunities for incarcerated individuals. The goal of this program is to create partnerships and opportunities for incarcerated individuals upon their release.
Marimon also created Penn State’s Street Law program, which is a collaboration between the College of Education and Penn State Law. This program teaches law-related lessons on the U.S. constitution and human rights to middle and high school students. Colleagues said the program is a win for law students, who gain a deeper understanding of the material and teaching methods, and provides a community service to local schools.
“In just a few years, Marimon has brought programs to Penn State that connect students, faculty and professionals to local, national and global communities,” a nominator said. “He has created programs that empower teachers, students and communities to effect change through advocacy and civic engagements.”