Concurrent Sessions

Mindy Wright

Nancy Nestor-Baker

Karen Bruns

How Academic Disciplines Shape Faculty Views and Involvement in Engagement

Mindy Wright, Department of English, Ohio State University
Nancy Nestor-Baker, Office of Academic Affairs, Ohio State University
Karen Bruns, Leader, OSU Extension and University Outreach, Ohio State University

Each academic discipline has its own theoretic background, language, and cultural norms that influence how engagement is embedded into the day-to-day functions of the department. This session will focus on understanding the uniqueness of each discipline's discourse community and the impact that has on shaping faculty views and involvement in engagement. The session will include discussions concerning the effect disciplines can have on acceptance of engagement, language used to think about civic engagement, and means for evaluating engagement.

Julie Ellison

Kristine Campbell

Using Grants to Achieve High Impact

Karen Bruns, Leader, OSU Extension and University Outreach, Ohio State University
Kristine Campbell, Assistant Chancellor, Public Engagement and Institutional Relations, University of Illinois
Julie Ellison, Director of Imagining America, University of Michigan

Many institutions have used seed grants to foster and build university engagement. The effect these grants have on achieving quality and sustaining impact is dependent on how the programs are strategically and systematically developed. Does the university community perceive the grants differently if they originate from different units (academic, research, or outreach)? How does shaping the granting process shape the perceptions about the seed grants program? This session will focus on discussing key questions related to developing and implementing the appropriate systems and evaluations for maximizing the long-term impact of grants programs.

Creating an Institutional Culture and Commitment to Evaluate Impact

Nancy Ellen M. Kiernan, Program Evaluation Specialist, Penn State University
Theodore R. Alter, Associate Vice President for Outreach and Executive Director, Cooperative Extension

The Pennsylvania State University Institutions that conduct multiple educational programs face challenges in demonstrating impact. Faculty can know subject matter, but lack evaluation skills. Administrators can perceive evaluation as an unnecessary expenditure. Needed is an institutional value on evaluation. In creating an evaluation Web site, Extension used an inexpensive, efficient technology to forge institutional commitment to evaluation and stimulate use of valid evaluation strategies.

Planning for High Impact as an Outreach Scholar

Rita N. Saathoff, Associate 4-H Department Chair and Regional 4-H Agent, Rutgers Cooperative Extension
Ginny Powell, RCE Assistant Director and 4-H Department Chair, Rutgers Cooperative Extension

This session will highlight a successful program development model used by Rutgers Cooperative Extension field faculty to plan outreach scholarship programs that yield high impact results both in their communities and as scholars. Participants will learn how to incorporate effective outreach strategies with scholarly work to produce success every time.

Strange Bedfellows Sometimes Make the Best Friends

Patricia Takemoto, Assistant Vice Chancellor, University of Wisconsin-Extension
Jenni Bugni, Outreach Manager, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh
Carie Goral, Director, Wisconsin K-16 AmeriCorps*VISTA Service-Learning Project, Wisconsin Campus Compact

Although community service is integral to the missions of most colleges and universities, it is a fine art, at best, to develop strong and sustainable community-campus partnerships. Session participants will work with a resource guide that demonstrates how two of higher education's best resources--the outreach/extension unit and the service learning (campus compact) office--can support campuses' service learning programs and help meet their civic engagement commitments.

Becoming Bedfellows: Accreditation and Engagement

Lorilee R. Sandmann, Co-Director, National Clearinghouse for the Scholarship of Engagements, University of Georgia
Edward Jones, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Extended Services, University of Southern Indiana
Julie E. Williams, Associate Vice President Research and Outreach Scholarship, University of New Hampshire

This session features cases under differing accreditation commissions where engagement was a thematic area of institutional review although they were differently focused and presented. Dual perspectives will be presented--from preparing for institutional review to those responsible for accreditation evaluation.

The SMILE Program: A Model for School-University Partnerships

Eda Davis-Butts, Director, Oregon State University
SueAnn I. Bottoms, Assistant Director, Oregon State University

This session highlights a program with a focus of increasing the number of underrepresented/underserved students graduating high school, prepared to enter college. This session should benefit those involved in community-university collaborations, practitioners providing direct service in P-12 outreach, and those interested in the success of underrepresented students.

Putting the Neighbor Back in the Hood: Building Community through a Collaborative Multicultural Festival Project

Susan L. Hutchinson, Assistant Professor, The Pennsylvania State University
Kerry Vachta, Associate Director for Community Based Research, Penn State Harrisburg
Kler Jones, Community Organizer, Firm Foundation of PA, Inc.
Elaine Burns, Coordinator, Harrisburg Weed and Seed AID/TALL, Community Action Commission
Missy Saracino, Student, The Pennsylvania State University

The purpose of this presentation is to describe the outreach efforts undertaken by Penn State faculty and students to work collaboratively with community leaders and youth-serving organizations to plan and implement a neighborhood multicultural festival in an ethnically diverse neighborhood in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Successes and Challenges of Demonstrating Impact to Stakeholders

Patricia A. Farrell, Associate Director, Michigan State University
Cheryl N. Booth, Co-Director, Michigan State University
Shruti J. Vaidya, Communications Director, Michigan State University
Janet L. Bokemeier, Co-Director, Michigan State University

Documenting substantive research impacts for key stakeholders not only helps to strengthen university-community partnerships and demonstrates the university's relevance to the state, but also can influence future fiscal decisions. This session focuses on how a university-wide coalition is refining processes for tracking, documenting, and disseminating the impact of engagement efforts.

Rural Leadership Program Aims to Strengthen Rural Communities

Marie G. Hvidsten, Rural Leadership Specialist, North Dakota State University

Learn about the framework of a statewide leadership program that prepares and develops effective leaders to strengthen rural communities in North Dakota. Hear about the details of the two year interactive, dynamic leadership program. Share your ideas on critical elements in a leadership program.