The National Youth Leadership Council (NYLC) recently presented its Alec Dickson Servant Leadership Award to Andrew Furco, a professor in the Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development. Furco was honored at the council’s National Service-Learning Conference held April 20-22.

Furco, also a former associate vice president for public engagement at the University, was honored for his profound impact on the field of service-learning through widely recognized academic and policy leadership. Over the past 30 years, he has become one of the most sought-after service-learning and civic education scholars in the world, not only because of his generosity, but also for his open mind and heart for different cultures, as well as for his capacity to shed light and encourage service-learning models different from those in the United States.

He has published more than 80 works, including five books and more than 75 journal articles, book chapters, and monographs on the subject, including the books Service-Learning: The Essence of the Pedagogy, Service-Learning Through a Multidisciplinary Lens, and Service-Learning: How Does it Measure Up?

The Alec Dickson Servant Leadership Award has been presented by the NYLC annually since 1998. Recipients personify leadership, courage, creativity, and compassion in the field of service-learning. Past recipients of the award include Shirley Sagawa, national expert on children and youth policy and author of federal service-learning legislation; the late Senator Paul Wellstone, his activist wife, Sheila, and teacher/daughter, Marcia; Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, former Maryland Lieutenant Governor and Maryland Student Service Alliance founder; Carol Bellamy, former executive director, UNICEF; among others.