Scholarship of Engagement and Cultural Challenges Within an Academic Context

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Scholarship of Engagement and Cultural
Challenges Within an Academic Context

• North Carolina State University
• Task Force on the
• Scholarship of Engagement

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Agenda

• Mandate of Task Force
• Dr. Pat Sobrero, Associate Vice Chancellor,
  Extension, Engagement, and Economic Development
• Historical Context and University Values
• Dr. Ellis Cowling, University Distinguished
  Professor At-Large Emeritus
• Task Force Process and Recommendation
• Dr. Joan Pennell, Professor and Director, Center
  for Family Community Engagement
• Discussion

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Engagement Movement

• 1995 Dillman Study
• 1995 North Carolina Progress Board
• 1999 W. K. Kellogg Commission
• Engaged University
• Envisioned reciprocal partnerships that were
  defined by mutual respect and mutual learning
  among collaborating partners.
• Seven Part Test

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Engagement Movement

• 1999 - Commission of the Future of NC State
• 2000 - Six Realms Reappointment, Promotion,
  and Tenure
• 2001 Vice Chancellor for Extension, Engagement,
  and Economic Development
• 2006 Carnegie Classification for both
  Community Engagement and Outreach and
  Partnerships by the Carnegie Foundation for the
  Advancement of Teaching

2008 Community Engagement Classification
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2008 Listening Sessions

• Executive Administrative Team
• Extension, Engagement and Economic Development
  Operations Council
• Extension, Engagement and Economic Development
  University Standing Committee

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Task Force

• Co-Chaired by Natural Resource Scientist and
  Social Scientist (Cowling and Pennell)
• Multi-disciplinary team with representation from
  NC States10 colleges EEED units

• Colleges
• Agriculture and Life Sciences
• Design
• Education
• Engineering
• Humanities and Social Sciences
• Management
• Natural Resources
• Physical and Mathematical Sciences
• Textiles
• Veterinary Medicine

• EEED Units
• Cooperative Extension
• Economic Development Partnership Program
• General Henry Hugh Shelton Leadership
  Initiative
• Industrial Extension Service
• McKimmon Center for Extension Continuing
  Education
• Small Business Technology Development Center

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Engagement Enriches Research

• Authentic scholarship of engagement occurs when
  research-based experts
• Work together with local stakeholders to
  collaboratively address a technical or societal
  issue applying research based strategies,
• Learn together what works most effectively, and
• Then evaluate outcomes and track societal impact
  of the actions taken.

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Engagement Scholarship is

• The discovery of new knowledge in the scholarship
  of engagement results from collaborative learning
  about actions that effectively address the
  problems and issues identified.
• Scholarship results when these findings are
  reported, evaluated by peers, and then published
  and disseminated widely to inform future theory,
  practice, and public policy.

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Task Force Charge 1

• Develop recommendations regarding Evidence of
  the Scholarship of Engagement that can be
  included in documentation developed for Faculty
  Annual Performance Reviews and for Decisions
  about Faculty Reappointments, Promotions, and
  Conferral of Tenure.

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Task Force Charge 2

• Develop recommendations regarding Institutional
  Performance Indicators that can be used to record
  and evaluate accomplishments in the scholarship
  of engagement across the various colleges,
  departments, and other units with NC State
  University.

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Task Force Charge 3

• Review and develop recommendations regarding the
  language currently being used to track engagement
  and the language that should be used in the
  future to track engagement within NC State
  Universitys Institutional research offices and
  budget offices.

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Historical Context and University Values

• Need for revision of reappointment, promotion,
  and tenure guidelines and processes in 1999
• Lack of uniformity among colleges
• Lack of openness to faculty oversight
• Lack of attention to the twin goals of
• excellence and fairness.

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Provost and Chair of the Faculty Appointed a
Faculty Select Committee on Reappointment,
Promotion, and Tenure

• Hearings in all colleges indicated need for
• Better understanding and transparency regarding
  RPT evaluation criteria and processes,
• More nurturing of faculty progress and
  self-improvement, and
• Greater equity in evaluation of faculty with
  major teaching and extension and engagement vs.
  research responsibilities.

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Provost and Chair of the Faculty Appointed a
Faculty Select Committee on Reappointment,
Promotion, and Tenure

• Hearings in all colleges indicated need for
• Maintaining criteria for evaluation of
  performance that are
• Appropriate for achievements within the
  discipline, and
• Reasonably uniform among departments and
  colleges.

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Recommendations for Reform of RPT Processes

• Emphasize excellence in performance by faculty as
  the major goal of RPT processes,
• Create Statements of Mutual Expectations for
  all individual faculty members based on Six
  Realms of Faculty Responsibility,

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Recommendations for Reform of RPT Processes

• Increase role of faculty at every step in
  mentoring and RPT decision-making processes, and
• Require written statements at all stages of RPT
  evaluation based on published department,
  college, and university criteria.

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Definition of Values Held Dear by North
Carolina State University

• Above all, North Carolina State University
  values excellence and distinction in creative
  scholarship that facilitates the increase and
  diffusion of knowledge, wisdom, and
  the moral dimension of intelligence.

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Six Realms of Faculty Responsibility

1. Teaching and Mentoring of Undergraduate and
   Graduate Students
2. Discovery of Knowledge Through Discipline-Guided
   Inquiring
3. Creative Artistry and Literature
4. Technological and Managerial Innovation
5. Extension and Engagement with Constituencies
   Outside the University
6. Service in Professional Societies and Service and
   Engagement Within the University Itself

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Attitudes in Your Department toward Engagement?

• Supportive
• Very positive attitude but need to broaden
  understanding of engagement
• Very positive. Need though to translate into
  scholarship and research
• Variable Support
• Treats engagement as a potential income stream
  but for PT and faculty evaluation we mostly
  ignore engagement, treat it as a distraction from
  the real important business of research
• Continuum from NO knowledge or respect for the
  work . . . to total respect for the scholarship
  of engagement
• Unsupportive
• Frustrated that it is so hard to make the case
  successfully
• Need for shared discourse

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Developing Common Definition Connecting
Scholarship and Use

• The scholarship of engagement is the
  collaborative generation, refinement, and
  exchange of mutually beneficial and societally
  relevant knowledge that is communicated to and
  validated by peers in academe and the community.

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Encompassing Broad Substantive Areas

• The scholarship of engagement aims to develop
  ethical and practical solutions to social,
  health, economic, and/or environmental issues.

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Fostering Partnerships

• Involve higher education institutions and
  communities on and off campus, and
• In partnerships that hold common goals and share
  expertise and resources.

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Widening Concept of Scholarship

• Challenging narrow definitions of academic
  scholarship,
• Going beyond products of discipline-based
  research,
• Identifying how the process of engaging in
  scholarship creates an intellectual environment,
• Stimulating knowledge discovery, integration,
  application, and teaching.

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Addressing Counter Arguments

• Undermining distinction between basic and applied
  research
• Need to assert researchers independence from
  government and corporate control,
• But distinction hard to maintain when research is
  addressing complex problems.
• Deskilling students and confusing democratic
  values with academic ones
• Overemphasis on experiential learning without the
  necessary critical reflection on these
  experiences shortchanges students development of
  intellectual skills,
• But learning how to put democratic values into
  practice and create a better world for everyone
  is a significant academic accomplishment.

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Identifying External Impetus

• Recent funding trends seek the application of
  theory to real-world challenges that require
  collaborative work that transcends traditional
  disciplinary boundaries within interdisciplinary
  teams.

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Recommending Institutional Supports

• Faculty supports
• faculty expectations
• reward systems
• professional development and mentoring
• Institutional indicators highlighting progress
• Institutional profiling of accomplishments

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See Final Task Force Report and Presentation at
Office of Extension, Engagement, and Economic
Development Website http//www.ncsu.edu/extension
/news/engagement.php

• Or Contact
• Ellis Cowling, Co-Chair - ellis_cowling_at_ncsu.edu
• Joan Pennell, Co-Chair - jpennell_at_ncsu.edu
• Pat Sobrero - pat_sobrero_at_ncsu.edu