Presented by Campus Compact, this national award recognizes faculty members who practice exemplary community-engaged scholarship through teaching and research.
In recognition of his community-engagement work on behalf of the teachers and students of Bridgeport Public Schools, Bryan Ripley Crandall, PhD, was named a finalist for this year’s Thomas Ehrlich Civically Engaged Faculty Award. Dr. Ripley Crandall is director of the Connecticut Writing Project (CWP) Fairfield and associate professor in the School of Education and Human Development.
Presented by Campus Compact, the prestigious national Thomas Ehrlich Civically Engaged Faculty Award recognizes senior faculty members who practice exemplary community-engaged scholarship through teaching and research. In a nomination letter for this award, Provost Christine Siegel, PhD, wrote “I would argue that everything he does, inside and outside of the classroom, through teaching, research, and service, and how he moves through the world, is all connected to community. Through his daily actions and interactions, Dr. Ripley Crandall is in a constant process of creating an intricate web of connection and interaction between teaching, research, and service, and between our local schooling communities and University. Dr. Ripley Crandall is a scholar in action.”
For decades Dr. Ripley Crandall has been dedicated to supporting K-12 students’ writing through CWP Fairfield by strengthening the teaching and learning of writing, providing professional development programs for classroom teachers, and expanding the professional roles of teachers. He has published and presented on topics including teaching writing to adolescent youth, young adult literature, issues in urban education, and working with immigrant and refugee youth. Dr. Ripley Crandall serves on the Board of Directors for Hoops 4 Hope, a global non-profit supporting youth development through sports, and the Bridgeport Higher Education Alliance of Connecticut.
Dr. Ripley Crandall has been recognized through several awards, including the University’s 2016 Martin Luther King Jr. Vision Award and a President’s Award for Community Engagement and Service. In 2018, he received the Divergent Award for Excellence in 21st Century Literacies from the Initiative for 21st Century Literacies Research. One year later, his work was given an Outstanding College/Community Project Award by the Coalition of Community Writing. He is also the recipient of the 2023 Jeffrey P. von Arx Award for Excellence in Community Engagement from the Center for Social Impact.
The highly competitive Thomas Ehrlich Civically Engaged Faculty Award is presented as part of Campus Compact's Impact Awards, which recognize the outstanding work of individuals and institutions in pursuit of the public purposes of higher education. This year’s Ehrlich Award recipient is Emily Sendin, PhD, of Miami Dade College; Dr. Ripley Crandall shares finalist honors with Jennifer Wesely, PhD, of the University of North Florida. Campus Compact last recognized a Fairfield University faculty member in 2013, when Robbin Crabtree, PhD, was named a finalist.
