Collectivizing Our Impact: Engaging Departments and Academic Change

Abstract

This article invites readers to consider foundational assumptions about community-engaged work. The author envisions a path forward to help “un-stall” the community engagement movement and to deepen and broaden practice. Connecting cutting edge thinking emerging out of the public, private, and nonprofit sectors – all suggesting the need to collectivize our work – the author argues in favor of refocusing community engagement efforts on the backbone of higher education: academic disciplines and departments. The article concludes with a composite vision, compiled from data and experiences collected at multiple postsecondary institutions in the United State and beyond, for a partnership landscape that positions the academic unit closer to the center of the community engagement enterprise.