Finding Meaning In Civically Engaged Scholarship

The essays in this volume are a collection of reflective narratives, rather than traditional scholarly treatises. The book is divided into two parts. The first part describes our individual journeys as each of us found our way to civically engaged scholarship and came to see it as critical to our academic endeavors and identity. This section also highlights the interdisciplinary nature of our work as we discuss our journeys through our own disciplinary lenses. The second part presents detailed examples of our civic engagement, including service-learning classes, community based research projects, and creation of community service-learning spaces. These chapters provide a varied picture of the available avenues for civic engagement for students and faculty in a higher education setting. We provide sufficient details of our projects and classes to enable replication. The book concludes with a discussion of civic engagement as it is defined in the literature. The conclusion also discusses institutional factors that support and promote civic engagement as well as the importance of community involvement in service learning. Five common themes that emerged across the chapters are described. These themes include the use of service learning and civic engagement as an effective pedagogy, the relationship between civic engagement and political activism, the importance of partnership and collaboration, the meaning found in civic engagement, and the challenges of civically engaged work.

Using a conversational voice, the authors provide a foundation as well as a blueprint and tools to craft a community-engaged course. Based on extensive research, the book provides a scope and sequence of information and skills ranging from an introduction to community engagement, to designing, implementing, and assessing a course, to advancing the craft to prepare for promotion and tenure as well as how to become a citizen-scholar and reflective practitioner. An interactive workbook that can be downloaded from Campus Compact accompanies this tool kit with interactive activities that are interspersed throughout the chapters. The book and workbook can be used by individual readers or with a learning community.

This book is a companion guide to Campus Compact’s successful publication The Community Engagement Professional in Higher Education. In the first text, Campus Compact Research Fellows - led by award-winning scholar-practitioner Lina D. Dostilio - identified a core of set of competencies needed by professionals charged with leading community engaged work on college campuses. In this companion guide, Dostilio teams up with Marshall Welch to build on the initial framework by offering guidance for how a community engagement professional (CEP) should conceptualize, understand, and develop their practice in each of the original competency areas. Over 10 chapters the authors address questions for those “brand new to the role” and interested in how to start a community engagement unit or center, or from people who are considering jobs doing the work on a campus, or from individuals “are trying to navigate the political environment on their campuses to expand and deepen their unit’s reach.” The Guidebook offers a rich and deep dive, breaking down the essential components of a professional’s work. From mentoring faculty research, leading campaigns to build civic engagement curriculum on campus, to managing the staff who support community engagement units, Dostilio and Welch tackle the breadth of the CEP’s work by drawing on key resources and their own decades of experience in the field. Throughout the book, readers will encounter “Compass Points” that call for personal reflection and engagement with the text. These interactive moments combine with end-of-chapter questions to prompt thinking about a CEP’s critical commitments, to create a powerful and engaging toolkit that will be essential for any person doing community and civic engagement work on campus.

Co-published with For directors of campus centers that have received the Carnegie Classification for Community Engagement, this book offers research and models to further advance their work. For directors starting out, or preparing for application for the Carnegie Classification, it provides guidance on setting up and structuring centers as well as practical insights into the process of application and the criteria they will need to meet.Building on the findings of the research undertaken by the author and John Saltmarsh on the infrastructure of campus centers for engagement that have received the Carnegie Classification for Community, this book responds to the expressed needs of the participating center directors for models and practices they could share and use with faculty, and mid-level and upper-level administrators to more fully embed engagement into institutional culture and practice.This book is organized around the purpose (the “why”), platforms (the “how”), and programs (the “what”) that drive and frame community engagement in higher education, offering practitioners valuable information on trends of current practice based on Carnegie Classification criteria. It will also serve the needs of graduate students aspiring to become the future professoriate as engaged scholars, or considering preparation for new administrative positions being created at centers.

Beyond their educational value, university institutions can play a pivotal role in community improvement. By utilizing academic resources, these organizations can positively impact their communities. Engaged Scholarship and Civic Responsibility in Higher Education is a critical reference source for the latest scholarly research on the adoption and implementation of civic engagement initiatives in higher education institutions. Including a range of pertinent topics such as service learning, economic development, and social justice, this book is ideally designed for academics, practitioners, students, professionals, and researchers interested in the growing influence of universities on community improvement.

This second edition of the award-winning The SAGE Handbook of Conflict Communication emphasizes constructive conflict management from a communication perspective, identifying the message as the focus of conflict research and practice. Editors John G. Oetzel and Stella Ting-Toomey, along with expert researchers in the discipline, have assembled in one resource the knowledge base of the field of conflict communication; identified the best theories, ideas, and practices of conflict communication; and provided the opportunity for scholars and practitioners to link theoretical frameworks and application tools.

Clinical reasoning is an essential non-negotiable element for all health professionals. The ability of the health professional to demonstrate professional competence, compassion, and accountability depend on a foundation of sound clinical reasoning. The clinical reasoning process needs to bring together knowledge, experience, and understanding of people, the environment, and organizations along with a strong moral compass in making sound decisions and taking necessary actions. While clinical reasoning and the role of mentors has been a focus of the continued growth and development of residency programs in physical therapy, there is a critical need to have a broader, in-depth look at how educators across academic and clinical settings intentionally facilitate the development of clinical reasoning skills across one’s career. Clinical Reasoning and Decision Making in Physical Therapy: Facilitation, Assessment, and Implementation fills this need by providing a comprehensive and in-depth focus on development of the patient-client management skills of clinical reasoning and clinical decision-making. It takes into account teaching and learning strategies, assessment, and technological applications across the continuum from novice to residents/fellows-in-training, along with academic and clinical faculty for both entry-level and specialist practice. Drs. Gina Maria Musolino and Gail Jensen have designed this comprehensive resource with contributions from professional colleagues. The text centers on life-long learning by encouraging the development of clinical reasoning abilities from professional education through residency education. The aim and scope of the text is directed for physical therapy education, to enhance clinical reasoning and clinical decision-making for developing professionals and post-professionals in both clinical and academic realms, and for the development of clinical and academic faculty. Clinical Reasoning and Decision Making in Physical Therapy uniquely offers both evidence-based approaches and pragmatic consultation from award-winning authors with direct practice experiences developing and implementing clinical reasoning/clinical decision-making in practice applications for teaching students, residents, patients, and clinical/academic faculty in classrooms, clinics, and through simulation and telehealth. Clinical Reasoning and Decision Making in Physical Therapy is the first of its kind to address this foundational element for practice that is key for real-world practice and continuing competence as a health care professional. Physical therapy and physical therapist assistant students, faculty, and clinicians will find this to be an invaluable resource to enhance their clinical reasoning and decision making abilities.

Building Collective Leadership for Culture Change shows how five community engagement research projects in the greater Los Angeles area were able to create more collaborative and participatory cultures in their academic institutions and nonacademic settings by using community organizing, research in action, and narrative inquiry. These projects focused on incorporating civic engagement into the work of scholars, creating a civic engagement minor at California State University, Dominguez Hills, integrating community organizing practices within the Los Angeles Unified School District, and building a regional organizing network among civically engaged higher education institutions. As the case studies authored by Maria Avila and her collaborators show, these projects succeeded because they took place in collaborative spaces where participants were part of designing the purpose, goals, and specific actions to create culture change. Building Collective Leadership for Culture Change is a vital inquiry into the possibilities of collective interpretation of accomplishments among researchers and participants.