The+essential+and+scholarly+role

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** The essential and scholarly role of web‐supported community engagement databases in identity and image management for institutional cultural change ** Emily Janke, Director of the Institute for Community and Economic Engagement, University of North Carolina at Greensboro [emjanke@uncg.edu]

Barbara Holland, Senior Scholar, Indiana University ‐ Purdue University Indianapolis and Portland State University [holland.barbaraa@gmail.com]

Kristin Medlin, Communications and Partnerships Manager, University of North Carolina at Greensboro [kdbuchne@uncg.edu]


 * Keywords:** Organizational identity, organizational image, community-engaged partnerships, community engagement database, cultural change


 * Track**: Contexts and methods: Theoretical and conceptual frameworks, research designs, and methodological issues


 * Format**: Research/Scholarly paper

**Summary** This session presents the theory ‐ based development and early findings of data collected in a university’s //Community Engagement Collaboratory//, a database to measure and monitor community ‐ engaged partnerships and projects.

Changing an organization’s culture requires leaders to attend to the stories members tell about who we are as an institution (//organizational identity//) and to the stories others outside of the university tell about the organization (//organizational image//). This session will review the role that a database grounded in principles of community engagement plays in building essential data sets for monitoring and measuring campus ‐ wide engagement. We will also explore the relationship between database ‐ driven, community engagement websites and organizational identity and image, and how campus culture can be changed, one person and department at a time, to embrace community engagement as a legitimate and valued activity.

Systems to monitor and measure community engagement are likely to play a significant role in shaping university identity and image to support and reward engaged scholarship as a legitimate and valued activity. Requests for databases on community engagement are increasingly prolific, particularly as universities work to shape their responses and reputations as public serving institutions (see Weerts, 2010). Therefore, just such a database ‐ driven website has been established at the University of North Carolina–Greensboro (UNCG).

The //Collaboratory// is an interactive database of community ‐ engaged projects and partnerships that take place between UNCG and the community of which it is a part. It collects research ‐ grounded data on impact area(s), main purpose(s), student involvement, type(s) of activity, expected and achieved outcomes, and organizational/individual collaborators, allowing each partner (inside or outside the university) the ability to log-in and contribute to the story of their partnership.

The audience will explore research questions with presenters to capture the value of such a system as a way to enhance sustainability and quality across the university.

Albert, S., & Whetten, D. A. (1985). Organizational identity. In L. L. Cummings & B. M. Staws (Eds.), //Research in organizational behavior////7//, 263-295. Greenwich, CT: JAI.
 * References**

Dutton, J. E., Dukerich, J. M., & Harquail. C. V. (1994). Organizational images and member identification. //Administrative Science Quarterly, 39//(2), 239-263.

Gioia, D. A., & Thomas, J. B. (1996). Identity, image, and issue interpretation: Sensemaking during strategic change in academia. //Administrative Science Quarterly, 41//(3), 370-403.

Pratt, M. G. (2000). The good, the bad, and the ambivalent: Managing identification among Amway distributors. //Administrative Science Quarterly, 45,// 456-493.

Saltmarsh, J., Hartley, M., & Clayton, P. (2009). //Democratic engagement white paper.// Boston, MA: New England Resource Center for Higher Education.

Weerts, D. (2011). If only we told our story better… : Re-envisioning state-university relations through the lens of public engagement. University f Wisconsin-Madison: Wiscape Viewpoints. Retrieved April 3, 2012 from [|www.wiscape.wisc.edu/publications/]


 * To access materials from this session please click on the file link(s) below:**

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