This section focuses on the challenges to and benefits of implementing civic engagement initiatives. Much of the literature here discusses the civic responsibility of colleges and universities to be connected to their local communities, as well as how engaged campuses benefit from a concerted effort to connect to community. Included in these efforts to increase engagement on campus are discussions of how greater collaboration between institutional units can benefit both researchers and practitioners, as well as improve interdisciplinary scholarship.

Benson, L., Harkavy, I., & Puckett, J. (2000). An implementation revolution as a strategy for fulfilling the democratic promise of university-community partnerships: Penn-West Philadelphia as an experiment in progress. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 29(1), 24-45.

(Scholarly; description; persuasive)

In this article, the authors argue that the academic-practitioner divide is largely a product of the Platonic false dualism between "superior" pure theory and "inferior" applied practice. The authors call for a Dewey-inspired implementation revolution to build local democratic neighborly communities as a means for advancing academic-practitioner collaboration, fulfilling America’s democratic promise, and overcoming the influence of Plato’s aristocratic philosophy on American higher education. The authors describe the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Community Partnerships’ work with public schools as an experiment in progress designed to advance academic-practitioner collaboration and a "democratic devolution revolution." Academically based community service learning and research and communal participatory action research are highlighted as particularly useful approaches for improving scholarship and communities and forging democratic, mutually beneficial, and mutually respectful university-school-community partnerships. (Authors’ abstract, p. 24).

Smith, W.D. (Summer 2003). Higher education, democracy, and the public sphere. Thought & Action, 19(1), pp. 61-73.

(Scholarly; persuasive)

Smith contends that the financial troubles facing higher education, in particular public institutions, are a result of the decline of the public sphere in the United States. Therefore, it is imperative for faculty members and administrators to orient a portion of their core activities to maintaining people’s involvement in our democracy. Even more so in light of the fact that outside of academia, the work of academics is increasingly seen as benefiting only members of the college constituency. University personnel can address the decline in public behavior by providing a framework for conversations on the public sphere, and training students to take part in them. Nineteenth century German universities provide an example of this type of work, Smith contends, through their belief that research was meant to be made public and that the concept of tenure was originally created as a protection for faculty wanting to participate in the public sphere. However, faculty and administrators have forgotten this paradigm, due largely to the fact that short-term fiscal considerations heavily influence priorities, to our detriment Smith believes. Thus, both curriculum and research should move in the direction of facilitating the occurrence of public conversations.

Other: Downloads and Links

The Engaging Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies: UCLA in LA: Reynaldo F. Macias and Kathy O'Byrne [download table of contents] [download chapter]

Recognizing & Rewarding Faculty Who Link their Scholarship with Communities [view slideshow]