To support and promote high-impact engaged scholarship, the Office of Outreach and Engagement has instituted a process to certify programs of excellence in engaged scholarship. The certification process seeks to identify and certify projects annually that demonstrate excellence in community engaged scholarship and meet the criteria of high-impact engaged scholarship. 

Due to the exemplary quality of work and its impact, the Ohio Prison Education Exchange Project (OPEEP) was rated in the top three programs of excellence at Ohio State for 2025. OPEEP works to build prison-to-college pathways through innovative teaching & collaborative learning in Ohio prison settings. 

AAAS faculty member Dr. Tiyi Morris is a program director of OPEEP alongside Dr. Mary Thomas of the Department of Women's, Gender & Sexuality Studies. Dr. Morris views her teaching in correctional institutions as a way to connect theory and practice and to engage in the community work that makes our intellectual endeavors relevant to the larger Black community and society as a whole. Teaching in African American and African Studies, a discipline that emerged from social justice movements, her curricula underscore the need to create a more just and equitable society.

To learn more about OPEEP and how to get involved, visit the project's website and read its in-depth special feature in The Lantern.