Nonprofit and Civic Engagement (NPACE) Center: Building Mutually Beneficial Community Relationships

Abstract

This paper discusses the purpose, reach, and function of the Non-Profit and Civic Engagement (NPACE) Center in the Department of Communication. Additionally, it explores how the ground-up creation of NPACE resulted from a thorough examination of the strengths and needs of both department and community and how the center offers substantive solutions to meet real-life challenges of both. Along the way, the paper addresses how faculty members negotiated with faculty and administrators across campus to gain support to launch the center. Moreover, the paper discusses key achievements of a few select projects executed in the past 5 years of service to the university and community. It also addresses the value of NPACE to its students, including a recent trend that has potential for further examination regarding the effect of the learning model and the center on fostering the civic and community engagement of graduates. Finally, the paper discusses emerging challenges, lessons learned, and opportunities for NPACE.

The Digital Divide: Addressing Artificial Intelligence in Communication Education

“…Scholarship on teaching and learning in communication demonstrates how bringing industry practices to the classroom to help students exercise theory and principles has long-term benefits for students entering the industry (McCollough, 2018; Parsons & MacCallum, 2019), for the communities they engage (Hoxmeier & Lenk, 2003; Jenkins & Sheehey, 2011; McCollough, 2019, In press; McCollough & Gibson, 2018), as well as the academic units that employ them (Huda et al, 2018; McCollough, 2019, In press). Within the industry, AI is being deployed to give practitioners the ability to analyze and efficiently participate in online conversations occurring across social networks, in nearly any language globally.…”