Summer Research Institute on the Future of Community Engagement in Higher Education

Posted by on March 14, 2011

It is with excitement that we announce the 2nd annual Summer Research Institute on the Future of Community Engagement in Higher Education. The Institute – sponsored by Merrimack College’s Center for an Engaged Democracy and Boston University’s Center for Character and Social Responsibility, and hosted at Boston University’s School of Education – will be held this year on June 24-26, 2011. This year’s keynote speaker will be Benjamin Barber, Distinguished Senior Fellow at Dēmos, president of the international NGO CivWorld at Dēmos and the Interdependence Movement, and the Walt Whitman Professor of Political Science Emeritus, Rutgers University.

This institute was begun because there are by now dozens of academic programs – certificates, minors, and majors – focused on community engagement, broadly defined, scattered across higher education. The first research institute in 2010 brought together 90 scholars, students, and community participants to engage critical questions of what it means to have an “academic home” for community engagement in higher education. This year, join an ever-growing group of administrators, faculty, researchers, graduate students, and community partners for the next step in growing this academic movement that is institutionalizing civic and community engagement in departments and academic programs through certificates, minors, majors, and interdisciplinary concentrations. Our goal – for this conference and beyond – is to support new and developing academic programs in community engagement; to provide a voice in the community engagement movement for the value of such academic programs; and to build a vibrant research base and academic community for scholars and practitioners committed to institutionalizing community engagement in higher education through such academic programs.

You can view a draft agenda, hotel information, key resources from last year’s conference, and register on our website (http://www.merrimack.edu/academics/education/Pages/CommunityEngagement.aspx). Space is limited, so please register early. For additional information or questions, contact Sarah Novick (a doctoral student at BU and the institute coordinator) at snovick@bu.edu. We look forward to seeing you and please pass this information on to colleagues who may be interested in this as well.