Engaging Campus and Community

Colleges and universities are increasingly being called on to deepen their engagement in the public work of addressing economic, social, and environmental challenges. How should they respond?

Engaging Campus and Community examines the practice of public scholarship as a promising means for academic professionals and students to join with external partners in addressing our most pressing public problems. Based on four years of collaborative research by a team of scholars from...
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Colleges and universities are increasingly being called on to deepen their engagement in the public work of addressing economic, social, and environmental challenges. How should they respond?

Engaging Campus and Community examines the practice of public scholarship as a promising means for academic professionals and students to join with external partners in addressing our most pressing public problems. Based on four years of collaborative research by a team of scholars from six different institutions in the national state and land-grant university system, the book provides the first in-depth qualitative study of the civic dimensions of public scholarship in American higher education.

The book presents and analyzes eight case studies of public scholarship involving close community-university engagement in public work initiatives that address the economic, social, and environmental challenges of pursuing agricultural and food systems sustainability. The authors draw lessons from these cases that have broad relevance for the larger movement to renew higher education's civic mission and work. Chapters in this volume include:

"Preface," David Mathews

"Introduction and Overview," Scott Peters

"Community Food Systems and the Work of Public Scholarship," David Campbell and Gail Feenstra

"Organizing for Public Scholarship in Southeast Minnesota," Scott Peters and Karen Lehman

"The North Country Community Food and Economic Security Network: A Profile of David Pelletier," Margo Hittleman, Scott Peters, and David Pelletier

"Bringing Scholarship to the Orchard: Integrated Pest Management in Massachusetts," Dan Cooley and Bill Coli

"Building a Knowledge Network for Sustainable Weed Management: An Experiment in Public Scholarship," Nicholas Jordan et al.

"Teaching as Public Scholarship: Tribal Perspectives and Democracy in the Classroom," Frank Clancy and Margaret Adamek

"Engaging Campus and Community to Improve Science Education: A Down-to-Earth Approach," Robert Williamson and Ellen Smoak

"An Exploration of Participatory Methods in a Youth Outreach Program Linked to University Research," Marianne Krasny

"Public Scholarship: An Administrator's View," Victor Bloomfield

"Findings," Scott Peters

"Achieving the Promise of Public Scholarship," Theodore R. Alter