Faculty+engaged+scholars

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**Faculty engaged scholars: Evaluation of a competency-based approach to faculty development **

Lynn Blanchard, Director, Carolina Center for Public Service, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill [blanchard@unc.edu]


 * Keywords: ** Faculty involvement, rewarding scholarship, program evaluation, engaged research and scholarship


 * Conference Track: ** Faculty


 * Format: ** Research/Scholarly paper

Many institutions offer faculty support for service-learning courses such as course development grants, workshops, and training opportunities. For the most part, these focus on curriculum and partnership development (Bringle & Hatcher, 2000). Faculty development efforts emphasizing engaged research are fewer, particularly those that are “sustained, longi­tudinal, multi-disciplinary, experiential, and competency-based” (Seifer, Blanchard, Jordan, Gelmon, & McGinley, 2012, p. 9).
 * Summary **

In order to address the lack of faculty development programs specifically addressing best practices for community-engaged faculty scholarship (Seifer et al., 2012), the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Carolina Center for Public Service created the Faculty Engaged Scholars Program (FES) to advance faculty involvement in engaged scholarship.

The evaluation of this program has been designed to provide an understanding of its effectiveness in faculty development around core competencies as well as an understanding of outcomes such as increased funding and interdisciplinary connections. Understanding how participants in the program perceive their experiences and what outcomes they attribute to their participation can contribute to what is known regarding effectiveness of faculty development programs targeted at community-engaged scholarship.

The presentation will describe the program, provide updated findings of the evaluation, and discuss how those findings inform ongoing development of the program. In addition, the inquiry will continue consideration of the value of the established competencies and how best to incorporate them in the design and implementation of faculty development programs.

The evaluation of the FES program can provide new information about how an interdisciplinary, cohort-based faculty development effort can strengthen faculty scholarship and contribute to the institutional climate around engagement and engaged scholarship. In addition, this effort can provide insights into the value of practical application of a defined set of competencies for community-engaged faculty development.

Blanchard, L. W., Hanssmann, C., Strauss, R. P., Belliard, J., Krichbaum, C., Waters, E., & Seifer, S. (2009). Models for faculty development: What does it take to be a community-engaged scholar? //Metropolitan Universities// //20//(2), 47-65.
 * References**

Blanchard, L. W., Strauss, R. P., & Webb, L. (2012). Engaged scholarship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: Campus integration and faculty development. //Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement//, //16//(1), 97-128.

Bringle, R. G., & Hatcher, J. A. (2000). Institutionalization of service-learning in higher education. //Journal of Higher Education, 71//(3), 273–290.

Seifer, S. D., Blanchard, L. W., Jordan, C., Gelmon, S., & McGinley, P. (2012). Faculty for the engaged campus: Advancing community-engaged careers in the academy. //Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement//, //16//(1), 5-20.


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