What Is Community-Engaged Scholarship?

Community-engaged scholarship reflects a range of faculty work in communities, from discovery to the integration and or interpretation of discovery, with application to communities (read USF Faculty Senate subcommitee report on community-engaged scholarship).

According to Glassick, Huber, & Maeroff (1997), such scholarship encompasses:

• teaching
• discovery
• integration
• application, and
• engagement that has:
  • clear goals
  • adequate preparation
  • appropriate methods
  • significant results
  • effective presentation, and
  • reflective critique that is rigorous and peer-reviewed.

Community-engaged scholarship involves the faculty member in a mutually beneficial partnership with the community/schools. One example of engaged scholarship is Community-Based Participatory Research -- a collaborative approach to research that equitably involves all partners in the research process and recognizes the unique strengths that each brings. This approach begins with a research topic of importance to the community and has the aim of combining knowledge with action and achieving social change to improve community outcomes.

Key Components of School/Community-Based & Community-Engaged Research/Scholarship

• Collaborative among faculty and schools/community

• Results in mutual benefits to the university/college and the community/schools

What is Not Community-Based Research?

• Applied research that is not collaborative

• Research that does not result in mutual benefits to the university and community

• Public service and outreach (via performances and exhibits, public lectures, volunteer activities, service on boards, or expert testimony) since there is typically no expectation of a scholarly product and no reciprocal partnership between the university and community.