Framing+a+research+agenda+-+institutions

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**Framing a theory-grounded research agenda related to institutions of higher education ** Barbara Holland, Higher Education Consultant & Senior Scholar, Center for Service & Learning,Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis [holland.barbaraa@gmail.com] Kevin Kecskes, Associate Vice Provost for Engagement & Director of Community-UniversityPartnerships, Portland State University [kecskesk@pdx.edu] Lorilee Sandmann, Professor, University of Georgia [sandman@uga.edu] **Keywords:** Research agenda, theory, institutionalization, engaged departments, institutional leadership **Conference track:** Contexts and methods: Theoretical and conceptual frameworks, research designs, and methodological issues **Format:** Symposium **Summary** This symposium is one of five sessions in a series on framing a research agenda in multiple arenas: students, faculty, institutions, communities, and partnerships. Drawing on //Research on Service Learning: Conceptual Frameworks and Assessment// (Clayton, Bringle, & Hatcher, in press), we will discuss theories relevant to research related to higher education institutions (specifically, institutionalization, engaged departments, and institutional leadership), critique previous research in this arena, and collaboratively generate recommendations for practice and future research. We will open the session by inviting collaborative critique of research related to institutions of higher education. We will share a model for conceptualizing research in terms of the convergence of theory, design, practice, and measurement (Bringle, Clayton, & Hatcher, in press) and use it to frame the discussion. Barbara Holland will discuss how organizational change theories, especially leadership and change management theories, can help explain how some institutions operationalize the factors that promote institutionalization. Through an understanding of organizational change theories and processes, researchers and practitioners can develop assessment tools that enable measurement of the institutionalization of engagement in the context of an organization’s overall strategic directions rather than as a separate activity. A research agenda related to institutional change will be outlined. Kevin Kecskes suggests that academic departments play a key role both in providing and modeling the skills and behaviors that students need in order to be successful and productive global citizens in the 21st century and in advancing transformation of institutions and reform of the academy. He will bring organizational change theory, cultural theory, and institutional theory to bear on discussion of investigating engaged departments. A research agenda related to engaged departments will be outlined. Lorilee Sandmann suggests that there is an urgent need for the assessment of service learning and community engagement leadership at all levels—program/center directors, department heads/chairs and deans, CAOs, and CEOs—and as it is enacted collectively. She will apply emerging understandings of institutional leadership to investigating how and why leaders’ roles influence institutional effectiveness in meeting goals for service learning and community engagement. A research agenda related to institutional leadership will be outlined. **References** Battistoni, R. M., Gelmon, S. B., Saltmarsh, J. A., Wergin, J. F., & Zlotkowski, E. (2003). //The engaged department toolkit.// Providence, RI: Campus Compact. Birnbaum, R. (2000). //Management fads in higher education: Where they come from, what they do, why they fail.// San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Bowman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (1984). //Modern approaches to understanding and managing organizations.// San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

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