Studying the Professional Lives and Work of Faculty Involved in Community Engagement

Abstract

Community engagement is one of the major innovations that has occurred in higher education over the last 20 years. At the center of this innovation are faculty members because of their intimate ties to the academic mission. This article examines the progress that has been made in understanding this critical area of faculty work. It builds on past research to consider Innov High Educ (2011) 36:83-96

Community Engagement Within a Social Work Programme in Rural India

“…Eminent scholars in the field of engagement have pointed out that leadership is a critical tool in facilitating institutional movement towards engagement by communicating the value of engagement both internally and externally, and in aligning the resources and structures to promote engagement (Neumann, 2006;O'Meara, Sandmann, Saltmarsh & Giles, 2011).…”

“…There is also a dedicated academic who works closely with the village residents to enable access and strengthen opportunities for collaboration with the villagers. O'Meara et al (2011) noted that engagement is successful particularly where academics engage not only their professional but personal passions, values and commitments in their academic work.…”

Exploring Faculty Perspectives on Community Engaged Scholarship: The Case for Q Methodology

“…on some campuses, community engaged faculty find that their perspectives on scholarly work and the aims of higher education may differ from those reinforced by the established processes of promotion and reward structures (Boyer, 1990;o'Meara, 2002;o'Meara, Sandmann, Saltmarsh, & Giles, 2010). Q Methodology may also result in giving voice to the perspectives of faculty who may otherwise not feel comfortable pushing against established frameworks that define scholarly productivity solely as research journal publications.…”

“…Research on faculty engagement has focused on defining engagement (Boyer, 1990(Boyer, , 1996Giles, 2008;o'Meara, 2002), examining dimensions of faculty life o'Meara, 2008;Wade & Demb, 2009), exploring the impact of engagement on faculty (Rice, 2002;Rice, Sorcinelli, & Austin, 2000) and identifying activities that comprise faculty engagement (Glass, Doberneck, & Schweitzer, 2011;o'Meara, Sandmann, Saltmarsh, & Giles, 2010). Due to the range of engagement activities in which faculty and staff members participate, scholars have faced the challenge of determining which activities to emphasize (o 'Meara et al, 2010), and how to ensure quality work (Glassick, Huber, & Maeroff, 1997) is made visible (Driscoll & Lynton, 1999).…”

An examination of the linkages between climate, engagement, and wellbeing in higher education.

“…In academia, engagement has been commonly viewed as the scholarship of teaching, discovery, and application (see Colbeck & Wharton-Michael, 2006;O'Meara, Sandmann, Saltmarsh, & Giles, 2011;Wade & Demb, 2009) or as an active commitment to student learning (see: Carini, Kuh, & Klein 2006;Kahu, 2013). These alternate engagement conceptualizations dominate university engagement research, and consequently very little is known about the grounding of employee engagement stemming from positive work experiences that fall within the higher education industry (Bretts, 2009).…”