Summer Conference Opportunity Focused on the Future of Engagement in Higher Ed

We are pleased to share with you an announcement from Dan W. Butin, the dean of the School of Education at Merrimack College and the executive director of the Center for Engaged Democracy:

The 4^th annual Summer Research Institute on the Future of Community Engagement in Higher Education, which will be held July 17-18 at Tufts University.

We are in the midst of profound shifts in the higher education landscape. Demographic changes, market pressures, and technological advancements have disrupted the value proposition of traditional post-secondary pathways. Even as we hear calls for placing civic and democratic engagement in the center of all that we do, the rise of MOOCs and other online learning initiatives put into doubt the very notion of place-based education. What is thus the future of civic and community engagement as higher education moves online? How can programs in civic and community engagement help to re-articulate and redefine our connections to our local and global communities? What does engagement and justice look like in the “disrupted university”?

This summer research institute is an opportunity to grapple with these and related questions. It is a moment to reconnect around important initiatives and forge new directions.

Please see below for details about the summer institute and contact democracy@merrimack.edu with any questions. I look forward to seeing many of you this summer.

Details

The 4^th annual summer research institute will take place July 17 & 18, 2013, at Tufts University in conjunction with the “Frontiers of Democracy” conference, which is sponsored by the Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service at Tufts University, the Democracy Imperative, and the Deliberative Democracy Consortium.

For more information and the link to registration, click here.

Confirmed Speakers

• Paul LeBlanc, President, Southern New Hampshire University, Keynote Talk: College for America – The Future of Civic Engagement in an Online World.
• Marshall Welch, Saint Mary’s College of California and John Saltmarsh, New England Resource Center for Higher Education, Invited Session: Best Practice and Infrastructures for Campus Centers of Community Engagement
• Ari Hoy, Senior Program Officer, Bonner Foundation, Invited Session: Forthcoming edited book, Deepening Community Engagement in Higher Education: Forging New Pathways.
• Ashley Finley, Senior Director of Assessment & Research, AAC&U, Invited Session: Forthcoming monograph through AAC&U’s Civic Monograph Series: Civic Learning & Teaching
• Amy Traver and Zivah Katz, Queensborough Community College-CUNY, Invited Session: Forthcoming edited book, Service-Learning at the American Community College: Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives

Call for Presentations

Presentations are being accepted on the following topics:

1. Strengthening Academic Programs in Community Engagement: presentations – e.g., theoretical, pedagogical, strategic – focused on developing, supporting, and expanding academic programs focused on civic and community engagement.

2. Core Competencies in Civic Engagement: presentations that make use of, critically engage with, and expand upon the Center’s policy report Core Competencies in Civic Engagement. This can include discussions around assessment practices, alignment to general education requirements, gaps or expansions of such competencies, and how such competencies can/have been used in practice.

3. The Impact of Online Education for Community Engagement: presentations that examine the impact and implications of online education in higher education for the future of “place-based” learning and civic and community engagement.

Please complete the form, found here, and submit your abstract by June 1, 2013.