Providence, R.I. — A growing network of leading research universities is working to advance campus-based civic and community engagement among a group of institutions that are often thought of as defining the “ivory tower.” The network, which has doubled in size in the past year, has published a new report outlining four areas that are critical to the growth of engagement at research universities: community-engaged scholarship, research, educating students for civic engagement, and “institutionalizing” engagement, or embedding it within an institution’s work at all levels.
The report, titled New Times Demand New Scholarship II: Research Universities and Civic Engagement — Opportunities and Challenges, outlines definitions and parameters for each of these four areas. Written by Dr. Timothy K. Stanton of Stanford University, this new report also describes the purposes and outcomes of work aimed at addressing community issues and offers recommendations for making such work a priority. A follow-up to an earlier document that laid out the network’s leadership agenda, the report notes of the network, “The group not only shared their ideas; they decided to take action by becoming a more prominent and visible ‘voice for leadership’ in the larger civic-engagement movement in higher education.”
Campus Compact, a national nonprofit association dedicated to promoting civic and community engagement on campus, is acting in a coordinating role for the network. “Campus Compact is excited to be treading new ground with research universities,” says Campus Compact president Maureen F. Curley. “In recent years we have witnessed a dramatic renewal in community engagement at research universities, and they have demonstrated a strong desire to not only participate in their communities but to build that commitment into the core of their work.”
In addition to the report, the group has made public a range model programs from leading research universities around the country. The model programs, as well as the full text of New Times Demand New Scholarship II, are available at Campus Compact’s website. Future work to advance research, scholarship, and teaching aimed at preparing students for civic and community life will include ongoing collection of models as well as the creation of additional resources and recommendations.
The research university initiative is part of Campus Compact’s ongoing work to advance civic engagement across the spectrum of higher education in ways that are relevant for specific institutions and institutional types. Campus Compact helped draft the landmark Wingspread Declaration on the Civic Responsibilities of Research Universities in 2000 and has worked extensively with community colleges, minority-serving institutions, and faith-based colleges and universities, among others, to identify and promulgate successful engagement practices.
