The Patricia M. Sobrero Community Change Award

In 2025, the Academy created a new award that would honor a member who had changed the game for community engagement scholarship and practice. The first awardee of the ACES Community Change Award was Patricia M. Sobrero. Upon naming her as the first recipient, the Board of Directors renamed the award after her. Why? Pat Sobrero has been a champion of the work and the people who do it throughout her career. She is a retired professor, Agriculture and Extension Education. In 2008 she was named associate vice chancellor, Extension, Engagement and Economic Development, North Carolina State University. Through her work at NC State, she served on the ACES think tank as a delegate for the Office of Extension, Engagement and Economic Development and the Council for Engagement and Outreach Executive Committee, Association of Land-grant Universities.. There she provided leadership for development of the scholarship of engagement task force, the Benchmarking Economic Development reports, urban programs, and the evaluation of Extension, engagement and economic development programs across the colleges and units on campus and statewide. Sobrero hosted creation of the Academy of Community Engagement Scholarship (ACES) as it became a nonprofit organization (2009-2012). The 2026 Sobrero Award will be presented at the annual meeting on August 27th.