Faculty Members Earn National Awards for Civic, Community Engagement

Jodi Skipper, professor of anthropology and Southern studies, and Castel Sweet, director of community engagement and professor of practice in community engagement, are among five award recipients who exemplify the positive impact higher education has on communities. They will be honored at the Campus Compact annual conference, set for March 31-April 2.

Recognized for her hands-on teaching and research that involves and serves community partners, Skipper is receiving the Thomas Ehrlich Civically Engaged Faculty Award.

"Academics have not always seen the value of prioritizing community engagement as a form of scholarship, Skipper said. "Receiving this award means that my community engagement is seen by my peers as an integral part of my scholarship, and that's important to me."

"To have this happen at a national level certainly is helpful, but I also hope that it inspires or encourages other academics to do this without so much hesitation."

Skipper is a historical archeologist and researcher focused on African American culture in the South. She incorporates community service work into her curriculum so students can experience the content they're learning while also contributing to goals of the local community.

Her collaborative approach centers around historic preservation.

"So much of the cultural tourism market in the state of Mississippi is rooted in the experiences of Black Mississippians, a story of survival despite continuous barriers being put in place," Skipper said. "Yet, many higher education institutions aren't largely training students to have the skill sets necessary to help to do that work.

"That work is not just about business, economics and marketing. It's about understanding other people's historical experiences so that you can work with communities who host tourists, with empathy for those communities, while welcoming tourists who might have concerns about facing racism and discrimination in the state, with sensitivity."

For more than 10 years, Skipper and UM anthropology professor Carolyn Freiwald have nurtured a partnership with Behind the Big House in Holly Springs. The program interprets the lives of enslaved people through the structures they lived and worked in and artifacts they left behind.

Skipper said her award-winning contributions in Mississippi communities depends on people such as Castel Sweet, the 2025 Nadinne Cruz Community Engagement Professional Award recipient. The award applauds her ethical leadership and effectiveness in creating links between the community and university that lead to solutions.

"I have a strong belief that communities know what they need; they just sometimes need support in actually fulfilling the visions that they have," Sweet said. "They know what the solutions are, but how do we build their capacity to actually achieve those things?"

"I continue to realize the untapped resources on a university campus that can help communities fulfill all the things that they want to see in their community. I just keep finding more ways that partnerships can really help us transform communities and in ways that many institutions just haven't thought about before."

The fruits of her labor can be seen through several university programs she has contributed to establishing since joining Ole Miss in 2021. They include the Community Engaged Fellows, Bonner Leaders Program and community engaged leadership minor.

A practicing sociologist, Sweet is "unapologetically community first" in her approach to solving problems. She is an advocate for hosting off campus events so the surrounding community can enjoy what the state's flagship university offers.

"I want to see more people comfortable moving between campus and community," she said. "This is a public campus. We don't have gates. We don't have walls. But we have created them, and people actually abide by them, and behavior is dictating and reinforcing them.

"We cannot ignore our role as a neighbor in this community."

Top: Jodi Skipper (left), professor of anthropology and Southern studies, and Castel Sweet, director of community engagement and professor of practice in community engagement, have been named 2025 Campus Compact Impact Award recipients, recognizing their work to create community partnerships that improve Mississippi communities. Photos by Ole Miss Digital Imaging Services