Distinguished Service and Engaged Research Graduate Student Award in Relation to Diversity Efforts

The purpose of the Distinguished Service and Engaged Research Graduate Student Award (DSERGSA, or DSERG for short) is to recognize outstanding scholarship and service by a graduate student that advances JEDI within AAAL and the wider field. More specifically, the DSERG Award is awarded to a graduate student (i.e., a student member of AAAL at the time of application and enrolled in a university, Master's, Ph.D., or Ed.D. program in applied linguistics or a related field) whose service and engaged research endeavors (1) promote the interests of traditionally underrepresented or minoritized groups in the field of applied linguistics with critical reflexivity of power, (2) raise public awareness of important social issues connected to language, and (3) increase the opportunities for collaboration and dialogue among all members of AAAL. This award is to be given annually.

The awardee(s) and their work will be recognized through social media and publications by the Graduate Student Council and AAAL Office. The awardee(s) will be given a membership fee waiver for a year. This award differs from the Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Graduate Student Award (GSA), which is a travel award given to a graduate student to support their attendance at the AAAL annual conference and is adjudicated by a separate committee. The awardee(s) will be given a membership fee waiver for a year.

The 2025 award nomination is now open.

Nomination form

Eligibility

Criteria for eligibility include but are not limited to the following:

1. Service endeavors could include systematic use of social media platforms to promote issues related to diversity, organization of both in-person and digital meetings for groups of graduate students previously underrepresented in AAAL and in applied linguistics, collaboration with local communities (e.g., K-12 schools, teachers, high school students, etc.) in the promotion and support of multilingualism, equity, and diversity, or other actions which meet the aforementioned criteria.

2. Engaged research efforts (1) promote the interests of previously underrepresented or minoritized groups in the field of applied linguistics, (2) raise public awareness of important social issues connected to language, (3) increase the opportunities for collaboration and dialogue among all members of AAAL, and (4) include direct outcomes for research and community participants. Engaged research endeavors could include community-based action research, design-based research, teacher-research-service collaborations, and others in the promotion and support of multilingualism, equity, and diversity, or other actions which meet the aforementioned criteria.

3. This award is independent of the conference. It does not come with a cash award or conference travel award. Recipient will receive a certificate and recognition will take place via social media and other AAAL communications.

4. If no suitable candidate is identified in a given year, the award will not be made.

5. The JEDI-GSA award and DSERG award should not be given to the same individual in the same year in order to recognize a larger number of graduate students engaged in diversity efforts. The GSA Chair will be informed of the winner of the DSERG award once it is announced; the AAAL Office will have this information. The DSERG winner can be eligible for a GSA travel award other than the JEDI award if they meet other eligibility requirements.

Nomination Procedure

Any member of AAAL may nominate a graduate student for this award. This includes faculty members, graduate student peers, and the nominee themselves. Individuals who have been nominated but not selected for the award in previous years are eligible. However, they must be re-nominated with a current statement of nomination and CV to be considered for the current award. Members of the current GSC steering committee and sub-committees are ineligible for the award. Past members of the GSC steering committee and subcommittees are eligible to apply.

The nomination should include (1) a statement of nomination (maximum length of two single-spaced pages, authored by one or a maximum of two individuals or a maximum of three-minute multimodal composition), stating specific contributions of the nominee in the aforementioned criteria; (2) an attached current CV of the nominee (or a comparable summary of the nominee’s major scholarship and service achievements); and (3) a 50-word summary of the nominee’s positionality/personal background vis-à-vis underrespresented minoritized groups. (4) The nomination letters must be signed and dated. Due to the stipulated need for confidentiality of nominations, only these nominated materials will be accepted.

The 2025 award nomination is now open. Award selection is made by November 30 annually. Please submit your nomination using the form at the bottom of the call for nominations page.

Nominations will be assessed based on the extent to which they address the following questions:

  1. What contributions to the interests of previously underrepresented or minoritized groups in the field of applied linguistics have been made?
  2. How do these efforts raise public awareness of important social issues connected to language?
  3. What opportunities for collaboration and dialogue among all members of AAAL have been created or enhanced?

For questions about the Distinguished Service and Engaged Research Graduate Student, email info@AAAL.org.

Timeline

  • March: Call for nominations announced
  • June 1: Nomination Deadline
  • June – July: Committee undertakes review and deliberation
  • July 15: Committee notifies the AAAL Business Office of the award results
  • July 31: Deadline for President to notify the winner

Recipients 

2024

Kelly Baur | Arizona State University

2023

Jazmine Exford | University of California, Santa Barbara

2022

Huy Phung | University of Hawai'i