When academic departments intentionally choose to work together to better coordinate and collaborate with community partners, learning, research and service outcomes for all stakeholders can be significantly enhanced. This interactive session will highlight new national-level research on the engaged department to discuss persistent challenges and explore promising practices in diverse institutional-community settings. Since National Campus Compact first introduced the “Engaged Department” initiative nearly 20 years ago, much has changed in the national higher education landscape to make this strategic, advanced community engagement practice even more important today. Together, we will explore how engaged department initiatives have empowered students, elevated community partner voices in multiple ways, and provided probationary faculty with collaborative opportunities to influence unit-wide community engagement efforts.

 

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