The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill — A Snapshot of Public Service and Engagement
As the nation’s first public university to open its doors, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has a long tradition of service to the State of North Carolina. Its mission explicitly includes the extension of “knowledge-based services and other resources… to the citizens of North Carolina and their institutions to enhance the quality of life for all people in the state…” Our tradition of public service for the common good is evolving into a deeper engagement with communities that involves mutually beneficial partnerships. This overview illustrates the University’s longstanding commitment to public service and engagement.
Core Engagement Programs.
The two most often cited examples of institutional commitment are the School of Government (SOG) and the North Carolina Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) Program.
The mission of the School of Government at UNC—Chapel Hill is “to improve the lives of North Carolinians through engaged scholarship that helps public officials understand and improve state and local government.” Founded in 1931, the School’s mission of statewide engagement is unique because it is carried out primarily through the work of tenure-track faculty members. The School recently revised its tenure and promotion policies to insure that faculty are rewarded for working at the convergence of scholarship and practice. Faculty produce more than 100 publications per year, including books, book chapters, articles, bulletins, journals, and other reference works. The School also sponsors more than 200 classes, seminars, and specialized conferences for up to 14,000 public officials each year. In addition, the faculty annually responds to more than 100,000 telephone, e-mail, and requests for direct assistance from public officials.
Since its establishment in 1972, the North Carolina AHEC Program has worked “to meet the state’s health and health workforce needs by providing educational programs in partnership with academic institutions, health care agencies, and other organizations committed to improving the health of the people of North Carolina.” In 2005 AHEC placed almost 10,000 health professional students in sites across the state for their rotations, offered 7,745 continuing education programs for more than 184,000 participants and documented more than 40,000 reference services through their libraries.
Campus-Wide Efforts to Facilitate Public Service and Engagement.
The Carolina Center for Public Service, which was established in 1999 and has the mission of engaging and supporting the University’s efforts to meet the needs of the state through engaged scholarship and service.
The Academic Plan (2003) includes six priorities, two of which speak strongly to engagement: 1) “Further integrate interdisciplinary research, education, and public service” and 2) “Enhance public engagement.”
The Office of Business and Economic Development (2004) was created to help communities and organizations access the economic development resources and expertise of UNC-Chapel Hill.
The Chancellor’s Task Force on Engagement (2006) was charged with developing recommendations for three content areas (PreK-12 education, health and economic development) as well as for cross cutting issues that must be addressed for faculty to respond to the state’s challenges, including rewards and incentives.
The University’s first Vice Chancellor for Public Service and Engagement was appointed in November to advocate for a greater and more effective University response to the challenges facing North Carolina and beyond, facilitating greater coordination and collaboration within the University, and promoting meaningful partnerships with the outside community.
Student Programs
The Campus Y, founded more than 150 years ago, involves more than 1800 students involved annually. Campus Y students have led UNC efforts to address social justice issues and encourage volunteerism throughout the community and around the world. Seventeen active issue-based program committees and projects span a wide range of issues, including human rights, hunger, supporting immigrants and literacy.
The APPLES Service Learning Program is organized and run by students to promote service-learning on campus. For the last 15 years, APPLES has worked with faculty to offer service-learning courses, and in 2005, 1073 undergraduates participated in those courses.
The Student Health Action Coalition (SHAC), founded by UNC medical students in 1967, is the oldest student run free health clinic in the nation. It now includes students from all the health affairs schools and social work to provide weekly dental and health clinics, care for home-bound elderly citizens, community health promotion programs and an annual Habitat for Humanity house.
Carolina for Kibera, Inc. (CFK) was founded by Carolina students and named in 2005 as one of Time magazine’s “Heroes of Global Health.” Addressing their mission of youth leadership, ethnic and gender cooperation and community development, they have established a youth sports program, girls’ center, medical clinic and a waste management program.
The Public Service Scholars Programhas more than 1000 students participating in a wide array of service, training for more effective service, and recognition of students for their commitment to service. As of spring, 2006, students from 50 different majors, representing 75% of majors offered, were enrolled in the program, and they provided more than 50,000 hours of service during the academic year.
Faculty Programs
The annual Tar Heel Bus Tour takes new faculty and administrators on a week-long journey to learn about North Carolina and how UNC is addressing its problems. Since it began in 1997, almost 300 faculty members and senior administrators have visited a wide array of locations where Carolina faculty are working in partnership with others to address community issues.
In January, nearly 90 faculty members attended a retreat to develop a proposed Faculty Engaged Scholars Program, which will begin this spring with a group of founding faculty. In response to a request from the group, the Office of the Vice Chancellor and the Carolina Center for Public Service are organizing informal monthly discussions throughout this academic year to promote engaged scholarship.
Many faculty members conduct engaged scholarship through research centers such as Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, FPG Child Development Institute, the Institute for the Environment and the Center for Integrating Research and Action. There are numerous examples of enduring community-campus partnerships, including one between the School of Public Health and Strengthening the Black Family, Inc. Together that has implemented a community-based participatory research model over 15 years to improve health and the quality of life in communities of color.
At least five professional schools (dentistry, government, medicine, journalism, and public health) have incorporated some form of recognition for public service and engaged scholarship in their guidelines for promotion and tenure.
Outreach and Data
Many centers on campus provide programs and resources to the community. These include the Ackland Art Museum, the UNC Botanical Gardens, the Friday Center for Continuing Education and the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center. For example, the Morehead Center oversees the DESTINY mobile science lab which brings state of the art technology to high schools in under-resourced areas for experiential learning.
Most professional schools, including Government, Public Health and Social Work provide off-site training and executive degree opportunities. The Public Health Management Academy (joint enterprise of the Business and Public Health Schools) has trained more than 800 professionals and an evaluation by the Lewin group documented a three-fold return on investment for public health agencies.
The Carolina Center for Public Service Databaseis a centralized way for community members, students, faculty, staff and alumni to access information about service by the University. Currently there are 875 projects in the interactive database, detailing efforts in all 100 counties of the state as well as national and international efforts. It represents a central way for the University to match the needs of citizens and communities with information about resources available in Chapel Hill.
