[{"id":466,"date":"2026-05-15T14:50:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T14:50:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engagevcu\/?p=466"},"modified":"2026-05-15T16:25:44","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T16:25:44","slug":"celebrating-excellence-in-community-engagement-honoring-vcus-2025-2026-award-recipients","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engagevcu\/2026\/05\/15\/celebrating-excellence-in-community-engagement-honoring-vcus-2025-2026-award-recipients\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating Excellence in Community Engagement: Honoring VCU’s 2025-2026 Award Recipients"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

2025-2026 Excellence in Community Engagement Award Nominees<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Virginia Commonwealth University, community engagement is a living practice, carried forward each day by faculty, students, staff, and partners who dedicate themselves to meaningful collaboration beyond the classroom and the laboratory. Each year, the Division of Community Engagement recognizes those who exemplify this commitment through the Excellence in Community Engagement Awards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year’s honorees were nominated by colleagues, collaborators, and community partners who witnessed firsthand the depth and impact of their work. Nominations were reviewed by a selection committee, and from a competitive field of candidates \u2014 several of whom received multiple nominations \u2014 the following individuals and organizations were selected for distinction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Community engagement is more than just a good deed \u2014 it’s a science, it’s an art, and it’s a practice.”<\/em> \u2014 Dr. Mosavel<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Excellence in Community Engaged Research<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Katherine Y. Tossas, PhD, MS<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Assistant Professor, School of Public Health; Director, Catchment Area Data Analytics, Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center<\/strong>, Nominated by Jessica LaRose<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Katherine Y. Tossas describes her work as a form of ministry \u2014 grounded in the purpose mantra: “I am here to steward and, as needed, to translate community wisdom into biobehavioral evidence, so healing can reach where systems fail.”<\/em> It is a philosophy that animates everything she does as a cancer epidemiologist, community partner, and mentor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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At Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center, she founded the Office of Catchment Area Data Analytics and co-directs the Global Oncology Program. Her community-engaged research includes Project COALESCE, which expanded access to cancer screenings; the TRUTH Project, a culturally grounded partnership with the Chickahominy Tribe focused on water safety and cancer beliefs; and the emerging Virginia Native Nations Against Cancer Coalition, uniting all 11 of Virginia’s tribal nations around cancer prevention and advocacy. She also founded the Virginia Public Health Summit on Cancer, now in its fourth year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through her COQU\u00cd Lab \u2014 a tribute to her Puerto Rican heritage \u2014 she mentors the next generation of researchers committed to transforming evidence into equity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Community-engaged research is not just research for me. It’s really a ministry.”<\/em>
“I feel thankful to be able to serve the communities that shaped me. My family is still a part of these communities, so this work is deeply personal.”<\/em> \u2014 Dr. Katherine Y. Tossas<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Excellence in Community Engaged Teaching<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Emily Smith<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Assistant Professor, VCU Department of Interior Design,<\/strong> School of Arts,<\/strong> Nominated by Robert Ventura<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Emily Smith is a self-described generalist \u2014 and that breadth is precisely what makes her community engagement so inventive. At the heart of her teaching is the middle Of broad studio<\/em>, an interdisciplinary design studio she co-leads for VCUarts that brings together VCU students and Richmond community members to develop real design solutions for real community needs. It is collaborative by design, in every sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her curiosity extends well beyond Richmond. Through Patterns of Place<\/em>, a collaboration with a design historian, she has taken students to the Eastern Shore of Virginia and Sicily to study how patterns in the built environment and nature reveal the impacts of climate change \u2014 and what resilience might look like. Closer to home, her Material Being<\/em> project is building an open, interactive database where people can share and discover new ways of understanding materials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In every project, Smith’s work asks students to look outward \u2014 toward community, culture, and the world they are designing for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEmily\u2019s framework allows students to connect deeply with the human experience, bridging the gap between their craft and their community.\u201d<\/em> – Robert Ventura<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Excellence in Community Engagement: Faculty or Staff<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Emily Zimmerman, PhD, MS, MPH<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Professor of Epidemiology, School of Public Health; Director of Community Engaged Research, VCU Center on Society and Health<\/strong>, Nominated by Samar El Khoudary<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dr. Emily Zimmerman believes that the best research begins with the right question \u2014 and that the right question can only be found in partnership with the community it seeks to serve. As Director of Community Engaged Research at the VCU Center on Society and Health, she developed the SEED Method for Stakeholder Engagement in Question Development and authored the textbook Researching Health Together<\/em> (Sage Publications), translating that conviction into tools that researchers across the field can use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her current work as Principal Investigator on an NIH\/NIDA-funded Patient Engagement Resource Center focused on substance use treatment brings together a remarkable network of community partners \u2014 from Engaging Richmond to the Peer Recovery Collective to Disability Advocates in Research \u2014 each reflecting her commitment to health equity not as an aspiration, but as a practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The work only happens because communities continue to show up and believe in partnership.”<\/em>
“The most rigorous research is about what you share and about building something that truly belongs to everyone.”<\/em> \u2014 Dr. Emily Zimmerman<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Excellence in Community Engagement \u2014 Student, Fellow or Postdoctoral Fellow<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Nina Dashti-Gibson<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

MD-PhD Candidate, VCU Medical Scientist Training Program; T32 Scholar, Wright Center Translational Biomedical Sciences Training Program<\/strong>, Nominated by Chuck Harrell and Jennifer Koblinski<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

As an MD-PhD candidate studying drug resistance in pancreatic cancer, Nina Dashti-Gibson understands that science depends on community \u2014 and she has found a distinctive way to honor that relationship. Through the Brushstrokes of Discovery Community Mural Project, she partnered with Dr. Jennifer Koblinski, community partner Ron Thompson, and artists Khalid Thompson, Silly Genius, and Rain Spann to create a living dialogue between VCU researchers and the Richmond community members whose generosity makes their work possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a reminder that discovery is never a solitary act \u2014 and Nina has made that truth visible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The research I do would not be possible without patients willing to contribute during difficult times in hopes of creating better outcomes for others.”<\/em>
“Hearing the experiences of community members has been eye-opening and deeply impactful to me.”<\/em> \u2014 Nina Dashti-Gibson<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Outstanding University-Community Partner<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This year, the Outstanding University-Community Partner Award recognizes two programs within Richmond Public Schools that together represent an exceptional model of sustained, collaborative partnership.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Katrina Jackson<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Regional Engagement Coordinator, Richmond Public Schools<\/strong> Nominated by Verenda Cobbs<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Guided by a personal mission to “Teach, Lead, and Serve with Love,” Katrina Jackson has spent 21 years championing Richmond’s students and families. As Regional Engagement Coordinator for Richmond Public Schools, she has a gift for turning institutional goals into grassroots results \u2014 most recently through the “Connecting Pieces” initiative, which mobilized family liaisons across ten schools to deliver more than 40 programs targeting chronic absenteeism. The impact has been measurable, and the relationships built along the way, lasting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This award isn’t just a reflection of my work, but a testament to the powerful energy between our institutions and our shared vision.”<\/em>
“We don’t just show up \u2014 we show up with the excellence that the community deserves.”<\/em>
“This award belongs to everyone who chose to lead and serve alongside us.”<\/em> \u2014 Katrina Jackson<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Richmond Public Schools Multilingual Student Success (MSS) Team<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Lead Collaborators: Dr. Jennifer Blackwell, Lily Mirjahangiri, Amelia Castaneda, and Luis Martinez<\/strong> Nominated by Jenna Lenhardt<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Under the leadership of Dr. Jennifer Blackwell, Director of Multilingual Learner Success, Richmond Public Schools has transformed outcomes for its multilingual students \u2014 raising graduation rates by 19%, launching the Con Ganas<\/em> alternative pathway to graduation, and establishing inclusive, language-rich instruction across the district. When immigration policy shifts created uncertainty for families, Dr. Blackwell responded by designing Richmond’s Immigration Resource Hub to keep multilingual families and staff informed and supported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recognized as Persona de Poder 2025<\/em> and a Cambiar Catalyst Fellow, she leads alongside collaborators Lily Mirjahangiri, Amelia Castaneda, and Luis Martinez \u2014 a team whose work with VCU stands as a model of what sustained, student-centered partnership can achieve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘The MSST doesn\u2019t just “manage” diversity; they celebrate it as one of Richmond\u2019s greatest assets. They have proven that when we invest in the linguistic and cultural wealth of our students, the entire city grows stronger.’<\/em> – Jenna Lenhardt<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Recognizing All Nominees<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This year’s award categories drew an exceptional pool of candidates. We are grateful to every individual and organization nominated \u2014 each one a reflection of the deep community engagement happening across VCU and the Richmond region. The full list of nominees is featured in the slides from our awards ceremony below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n