Moving toward synergy: Lessons learned in developing and sustaining community – academic partnerships
Although community–academic partnerships are becoming a more common approach to addressing community health problems and engaging vulnerable populations in research, these partnerships continue to face particular challenges that impact their effectiveness, efficiency, and long-term sustainability. This article presents a modification of a “synergy-promoting model” (Lasker et al, 2001) for building and evaluating community–academic partnerships, which was used to establish a partnership between the University of Michigan and University of Detroit Mercy schools of nursing and the Family Care Network. The study outlines the theoretical framework of this model, and continues with a detailed account of applying the theory to practice…
Tools of engagement, web-based curriculum modules for undergraduate students and faculty
The Tools of Engagement web-based, curriculum modules are designed to: 1) Introduce undergraduate students to the concept of university-community engagement, 2) Develop their community-based research and engagement skills, and 3) Assist with training the next generation of engaged scholars. The Tools of Engagement are intentionally non-discipline specific, allowing for adaptation and customized utilization across the curriculum. The five modules focus on the university’s commitment to engage with community, understanding the concepts of power and privilege in the context of engagement, effectively working in groups, building successful partnerships, developing negotiation techniques, etc. MSU welcomes colleagues from other institutions to utilize Tools…
The Transformative Engagement Process: Foundations and supports for university-community partnerships
This article describes Michigan State University’s “transformative engagement process,” an interactive process in which all partners – academic and community – apply critical thinking skills to complex community problems. Based on Mezirow’s transformational learning (1991) it is iterative in nature and informed by a university-wide model of engagement built on the land-grant tradition and by grounded principles from the literature and developing engagement practice. To be successful, partners must have appropriate and multiple ways – face to face and electronic – of making and sustaining connections to each other and to information that will help them move through transformations. The…
Ethics and community-based participatory research: Perspectives from the field
The increase in health disparities signifies the importance of employing an ethical approach to CBPR. This article provides background on various ethical issues in health promotion and education practices/projects, and then uses a CBPR project located in the Lower Rio Grande Valley as a case example to discuss “ethical issues such as the importance of increased community involvement in research, ensuring that communities benefit from the research, sharing leadership roles, and sensitive issues regarding data collection and sharing”. The researchers from this project worked with community members to develop a code of ethics to guide the intervention, which was comprised…
racing the world grant ideal: Affirming the Morrill Act for a twenty-first century global society
The approaching 2012 sesquicentennial of the signing of the Morrill Act provides an occasion to celebrate the enduring power of the land-grant vision of higher education as an instrument of individual, social, and economic transformation in this nation. The Morrill Act created a new type of higher education institution in the 19th century. Now, according to the president of Michigan State University, the most pressing need in higher education is to encourage universities to evolve in ways that align them more effectively to advance the public good—to affirm the ideals of the Morrill Act and its core values through each…
Strengthening the civic roles and social responsibilities of higher education: Building a global network: A Report on the Talloires Conference 2005
The Talloires Conference, held in Talloires, France in September 2005, was the first international meeting of heads of universities committed to strengthening the civic roles and social responsibilities of higher education. This report outlines the three-day conference, which addressed topics such as civic engagement as a global movement, civic engagement in public policy and higher education, placing civic engagement at the center of institutions, and how to create a global network of leaders in civic engagement. This report also includes the Talloires Declaration on Civic Engagement, which aims to set high standards for universities to be civically engaged and to…
Making sense of multiple conversations: Research, teaching, and activism in and with communities in South African cities
In South Africa research is produced in multiple conversations that include conventional academic disciplinary communities, but it also extends beyond the university, engaging with a range of social and political institutions and actors. As a result, the relationship between research, theory and politics frames research in explicit and implicit ways. The author, a researcher, teacher, and activist, examines the ways in which her engagement with community organizations articulates with her research and teaching. Just as importantly, she discusses the ways in which her research and teaching are shaped by community-based agendas that not only inform the research, but also sustain…
Making the case for the new American scholar
This essay advocates articulation of a broader role for academic faculty in American democracy beyond their technical expertise as critical for making the case for community engaged research. O’Meara, K. (2009). Making the case for the new American scholar. Original Toolkit essay. Full Text.
Motivation for faculty community engagement: Learning from exemplars
This study examines the motivations of sixty-eight faculty who are community engaged exemplars. Motivations include personal commitments to specific issues, neighborhoods, and people, perceived fit between community engagement and disciplinary goals, and desire to teach well. Motivations are intrinsic and extrinsic, rooted in personal goals, identity, and organizational cultures. Findings suggest motivation likely varies by type of engagement and depth of involvement over time. O’Meara, K. (2008). Motivation for faculty community engagement: Learning from exemplars. Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, 12(1), 7-29.
Returning to our roots: The engaged institution
This report reviews the rationale for higher education institutions to be engaged with communities, guiding characteristics that define an engaged institution, and a set of recommendations including developing incentives to encourage faculty involvement in engagement. National Association of State University and Land Grant Colleges (2001). Returning to our roots: The engaged institution. In Executive summaries of the reports of the Kellogg Commission on the Future of State and Land-Grant Universities. Washington, DC: NASULGC. Full Text.
Doing the public good: Latino/a scholars engage civic participation
Through the lenses of personal reflection and auto-ethnography—and drawing on such rich philosophical foundations as the Spanish tradition of higher learning, and the activist principles of the Chicano movement—these writers explore the intersections of private and public good, and how the tension between them has played out in their own lives, and the commitments they have made to their intellectual community and to their cultural and family communities. Through memoirs, reflections, and poetry, these authors recount their personal journeys and struggles—often informed by a spiritual connectedness and always driven by a concern for social justice—and show how they have found…
Research universities and engaged scholarship: A leadership agenda for renewing the civic mission of higher education
Because research universities “set the bar” for scholarship across higher education, they are positioned to promote and advance new forms of scholarship that link the intellectual assets of higher education institutions to solving public problems and issues. This essay includes criteria for engaged scholarship, barriers, and reasons for doing it. Gibson, C. (2006). Research universities and engaged scholarship: A leadership agenda for renewing the civic mission of higher education. Prepared for Campus Compact’s 20th anniversary celebration. Research Universities and Engaged Scholarship. Full Text.
New times demand new scholarship: Research universities and civic engagement
This statement, which was endorsed by the participants of the first TRUCEN meeting at Tufts University in 2005, argues that because of research universities’ significant academic and societal influence, world class faculty, outstanding students, state-of-the-art research facilities, and considerable financial resources, they are well-positioned to lead the higher education sector to ensure deep and long-lasting commitment to civic engagement. It includes sections on engaged scholarship and why it should be important to research universities with examples from member institutions. Gibson, C. (2006). New times demand new scholarship: Research universities and civic engagement. A leadership agenda.Report of The Research University Community…
Towards the recognition and integration of action research and deliberative democracy
This article asserts that the shared underlying value systems of action research (AR) and deliberative democracy (DD) can mutually reinforcing, with the former especially being a powerful means for engaging the academy in the latter. AR and DD are both grounded in principles of inclusion, equity, the co-generation of knowledge, and action. In making the case for the integration of AR and DD, the authors describe their commonalities and place AR in the context of other forms of engaged scholarship. They review outreach scholarship, community-based research and other forms of participatory research, examining each in terms of their alignment with…
Individual and organizational influences on faculty members’ engagement in public scholarship
This chapter proposes a conceptual framework for understanding influences on faculty work and for conducting research about individual, organizational, and epistemological factors that may shape faculty members’ engagement in public scholarship. Colbeck, C. & Wharton-Michael, P. (2006) Individual and organizational influences on faculty members’ engagement in public scholarship. In R. Eberly & J. Cohen (Eds.), A laboratory for public scholarship and democracy (pp. 17-26). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Faculty engagement in public scholarship: A motivation systems theory perspective
This study used the lens of motivation systems theory to explore why research university faculty engage in public scholarship. Analysis of motivational patterns, including goals, capability beliefs, context beliefs, and emotions, of twelve community-engaged faculty, is used to identify leverage points for other faculty and administrators who wish to support, increase, or enhance their own and others’ engagement in public scholarship. Colbeck, C. & Weaver, L. 2008. Faculty engagement in public scholarship: A motivation systems theory perspective. Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, 12(2), 7-33.
Involving urban planning, social work, and public health faculty members in the civic renewal of the research university
What are some strategies for involving urban planning, social work, and public health faculty members in the civic renewal of the research university? At a time when citizens have “disengaged from democracy,” and universities have deemphasized their civic mission, this article examines ways in which these faculty members might join together and formulate strategies which complement their shared professional and public purposes on campus and in the community. Checkoway, B. (2008). Involving urban planning, social work, and public health faculty members in the civic renewal of the research university. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 27(4), 507-511.
Wingspread declaration on the civic responsibilities of research universities
In this document university presidents, provosts, deans, and faculty members with extensive experience in higher education as well as representatives of professional associations, private foundations, and civic organizations have formulated strategies for renewing the civic mission of the research university, both by preparing students for responsible citizenship in a diverse democracy and engaging faculty members in developing and utilizing knowledge for the improvement of society. Boyte, H. & Hollander, E. (1999). Wingspread declaration on the civic responsibilities of research universities. Full Text.
Creating the new American university
In this last page proclamation in the Chronicle of Higher Education, Boyer admonishes colleges and universities to become “part of the solution” for the pressing social ills of our times, and introduces the concept of the new American university that would be devoted to solving society’s social problems. Boyer, E. (1994). Creating the new American university. Chronicle of Higher Education, March 9, A. 48.
Powerpoint presentation: Practicing community-engaged research
A community-engaged research approach can enable researchers to strengthen the links between research and practice and enhance translational results. To practice community-engaged research one needs to re-think the relationship of research and researchers to communities. The presentation distinguishes traditional from community-engaged research, with a focus on community-based participatory research. It addresses how to incorporate community-based approaches into traditional research and how the community can contribute to and strengthen research. McDonald, M.A. Powerpoint presentation: Practicing community-engaged research. Duke University. PowerPoint presentation
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