“UofL is committed to its role as an engaged institution passionate about partnering and collaborating with external constituencies and communities. This partnership between the university’s Trager Institute and its partners is a win-win for both UofL and the community,” said Douglas Craddock Jr., UofL’s vice president for��. “The university benefits from engaged scholarship, and our elderly citizens receive necessary services that help them live their best lives.”

In 2015, the Trager Institute led efforts to support Louisville’s participation in the Network of Age-Friendly Cities and Communities by AARP and the World Health Organization (WHO), resulting in Louisville becoming the 120th U.S. Age-Friendly city.

With 40 percent of Louisville’s population projected to be 60 years or older by 2050, creating an environment where seniors could age well in place was essential to promoting well-being and ensuring the city continues to thrive. The Trager Institute guided the creation of a strategic plan using a needs assessment and participatory community engagement approaches, including listening sessions, concept mapping methods and presentations to the public.

“The Trager Institute started on this journey in 2015 to engage community partners in the vision of Age-Friendly Louisville. Community-based organizations, local government and residents across Louisville have worked tirelessly on the strategic plan to realize the dream of becoming age-friendly for all regardless of one’s age or abilities. It has been such an honor to engage in this collaborative leadership,” said Anna Faul, executive director of the Trager Institute.

The Trager Institute partnered with Metro Louisville, AARP and KIPDA to successfully implement Age-Friendly Louisville’s long-term plan to address the needs of the aging population and promote inclusive and accessible communities for people of all ages and abilities.

The internal nominating process for the award was coordinated by UofL’s Office of Community Engagement, which provides coaching and mentoring to faculty prior to final submission. UofL has been recognized for all five award nominations submitted in the past. These awards help to enhance UofL’s national profile in community-engaged scholarship.

APLU also announced that four of its member universities have been selected as regional winners of the 2023 W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Engagement Scholarship Award. North Carolina State University, The Ohio State University, the University of Pittsburgh and Texas A&M University will compete for the national C. Peter Magrath Community Engagement Scholarship Award, which will be announced at the 2023 APLU Annual Meeting in November.

Since 2007, APLU and the��, with support from the��, have partnered to honor the engagement scholarship and partnerships of four-year public universities. The award recognizes programs that demonstrate how colleges and universities have redesigned their learning, discovery, and engagement missions to deepen their partnerships and achieve broader impacts in their communities. The national award is named for C. Peter Magrath, APLU president from 1992 to 2005.

“Congratulations��to the regional winners of the Kellogg Community Engagement Scholarship Awards and exemplary projects,” said APLU President Mark Becker. “Community engagement is a critical part of public universities’ mission and we’re pleased to highlight the work of institutions that are engaging communities to solve challenges. From the underserved areas of their communities and states to overlooked regions of the world, public research universities are engaging communities to solve the most pressing problems they face.”

A team of community engagement professionals from public research universities judged this round of the award. A second team will pick the national winner following presentations at the 2023 National Engagement Scholarship Conference.

“Dr. Craddock has the experience, talents and, most importantly, the commitment to lead UofL’s efforts in forging effective community partnerships and promoting transformative experiences for our students, faculty and staff through engaged scholarship, outreach and service,” said UofL Interim President Lori Stewart Gonzalez. “He will be a superb leader for our programs addressing community issues across the local, regional and national spectrum.”

In his new role, Craddock will build and expand linkages for the university across multiple efforts within the Office of Community Engagement. He will oversee UofL’s Signature Partnership, the university’s initiative to enhance the quality of life and economic opportunity for residents of west Louisville. By partnering with city and state governments, schools and other organizations, UofL coordinates and enhances existing programs and launches new ones to eliminate disparities that residents experience in social, education, health and economic development areas.

In addition, Craddock and the Community Relations team will oversee programs including Cards Come Together, the university’s week of service; the university’s TRIO, Upward Bound and Talent Search programs, which are federally funded efforts that identify and provide services for individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds; the student philanthropy program; and UofL’s Annual Engaged Scholarship Symposium.

“The university reaches a broad scope of people and organizations through the Office of Community Engagement,” Craddock said. “Our work encompasses a wide variety of programs including working with college students who want to apply their learning to real-world situations; hosting students or groups who are interested in providing community service; and collaborating with faculty to address community issues.

“At its core, community engagement means meeting people at the place where they currently are, finding out where they want to go and applying the strength of the University of Louisville to help them get there.”

Craddock has served as the provost office’s chief of staff since 2021. From 2020 to 2021, he was chief of staff in UofL’s College of ����ֱ�� and Human Development, where he has served as a faculty member since 2017. He also has faculty and administrative experience at the University of Alabama, where he earned his bachelor’s and doctoral degrees. He earned a master’s degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

With other faculty at UofL, Craddock founded the��Black Male EDquity Network (B.M.E.N.), a grassroots effort focused on creating a pipeline of Black male educators in multiple disciplines. The effort links Black male students from across disciplines and universities so they have peers to bond with while completing their graduate degrees. Many times, there are few or even just one student of color enrolled in a department’s doctoral degree program.

“As many of these individuals are the ‘only ones,’ it is vital to have a support system to ensure their program of study completion,” Craddock said. “At its core, B.M.E.N. centers on building a linkage of brothers from all levels that can positively impact areas of job hiring, research and publications, teaching and general support that can only be found within the confines of this group.”��