Dr. Courtney Carignan and Dr. Donna Harris, assistant professors at the College of Veterinary Medicine, were both awarded 2024 Distinguished Partnership Awards as part of the 2024 MSU Outreach and Engagement Awards.

The Distinguished Partnership Awards focus on work that simultaneously engages and serves communities, and positively impacts scholarship. The awards are jointly given to both the individual recipient and their community partners.

Carignan, who is dual appointed in the departments of Pharmacology and Toxicology, and Food Science and Human Nutrition, received the Distinguished Partnership Award for Community-Engaged Service for her work in education and action in community health—specifically for her PFAS research and her collaboration with the Great Lakes PFAS Action Network. The award announcement states, “Carignan’s engagement with communities aims to provide service by sharing information, useful connections, and resources. Her research helps identify and address major gaps in knowledge or resources [regarding PFAS] that are of high concern to the community.”

Harris won the Distinguished Partnership Award for Community-Engaged Teaching for her efforts as an educator at the College and also for her work with the Community Spay/Neuter Initiative Partnership (CSNIP) externship. The externship allows fourth-year veterinary students to gain experience with surgical and clinical skills and work with clients who face challenges accessing veterinary care. Harris’s involvement with CSNIP means that students receive excellent guidance, and connects CSNIP to College faculty clinicians for complex cases that require expert care. As a result, the quality of patient care has increased.

Carignan and Harris will be acknowledged at the University Outreach and Engagement Awards Ceremony held on March 21, 2024.