The Community Engagement Faculty Network was created in the Fall of 2009 (with the support of the Teaching and Learning Network) with the purpose to find ways for faculty members to better support one another in their community engagement efforts.
The network serves as a forum for support and sharing (including the exchange of ideas, syllabi, literature, best practices, funding opportunities, collaboration opportunities, tenure and promotion assistance as it relates to engaged teaching and research, etc). The network also enables faculty to harness power to more effectively lobby for increased institutional support for community engagement at Pitzer. The committee meets to reflect on, act and share educational experiences in relation to community engaged education. It advocates for better educational practices and policies (for example, hiring of new faculty and tenure procedures as it applies to community engaged research and teachings). The network attempts to identify the kinds of resources needed in order for community engagement to thrive. Larger goals for inter-disciplinary and inter-institutional community engagement research, education and policy have naturally evolved from convening such a group and have added to future strategic plans.
Among other initiatives, the network produced a report regarding how various social justice-minded notions of community engagement and social responsibility play out in pedagogy and scholarship so that serving tenure and promoted committee members who may be unfamiliar with this kind of approach become aware of what it involves and the kind of demonstrations of scholarship that can result from this particular practice.The report and conversations over many years with this committee helped in revising the tenure and promotion review policy language to better recognize and value public/activist/community-based scholarships, teachings and service.
For more information contact Tricia Morgan.
