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June 9, 2006

We need to develop flexible but clear guidelines for recognizing and rewarding public scholarship and artistic production.

Defining Public Scholarship Any definition of public scholarship must balance both the Universitys obligation to establish and maintain reciprocal relations with communities, service providing agencies, industries, and civic organizations in Minnesota and the world with the Universitys core commitments to academic freedom and basic research and cutting-edge scholarship and creation.

Defining Public Scholarship. At the level of the institution, public scholarship means optimizing the extent to which University research informs and is informed by the public good, maximizes the generation and transfer of knowledge and technology, educates the public about what research the University does, and listens to the public about what research needs to be done. This scholarship contributes to the intellectual and social capital of the University and the State (and larger regions), and includes (but is not limited to) the transfer of knowledge and technology that contributes to improved quality of life for significant portions of the populous.

While there is variation in current terminology (public scholarship, scholarship of engagement, community-engaged scholarship), engaged scholarship is defined by the collaboration between academics and individuals outside the academy - knowledge professionals and the lay public (local, regional/state, national, global) - for the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources in a context of partnership and reciprocity.                                                                                                                                            (NERCHE, n.d.)

The Journal of Public Scholarship in Higher Education aims to advance the status and prospects for publicly engaged teaching and research in the academy by showcasing the new disciplinary and/or pedagogical knowledge generated by engagement with the community.

Its ethics and values hold central:

Relationship-building, reciprocity, and mutual benefit Participation, transparency, and reflection Innovation, integration, and dialogue Cultural diversity and social equality In coming to these forms of “applied” scholarship, humanities scholars have emphasized the way that culture in its many forms mediates interactions, development, and knowledge.

Publicly-engaged scholarship yields diverse artifacts, informing knowledge in multiple domains Policy and planning recommendations Museum exhibitions and public performances New curricula for courses or workshops Books and journal articles As consequence, public scholarship also yields new connections among disciplines, communities, and sectors. 

By Public Scholarship we mean bringing the best thinking and research to bear on the most critical issues facing society today.  Public Scholarship also entails a commitment to publishing letters, op-eds, and articles in newspapers, magazines, websites, blogs, and other forms of social media to raise awareness about these issues, to stimulate broad discussion, and to explore the role timely scholarship can play in addressing our most challenging problems. Public scholars strive to communicate simply and clearly to a wide audience, and therefore adopt a journalistic style in which sentences are crisp, paragraphs are brief, and jargon is employed sparingly. While public scholars embrace theory and sophisticated research approaches, they particularly seek to translate theory into practice and to use research findings to shed compelling light on the causes and the effects of pressing social issues. Public scholars also recognize that social issues which affect the broadest range of people matter most. Consequently, issues of poverty, hunger, access to education and healthcare, concerns about the rights of immigrants and other marginalized groups, as well as efforts to ensure public safety and promote social well-being are social priorities that deserve unusually extensive coverage. Public Scholarship is a means by which teachers and scholars can promote the public good, and we encourage faculty, staff, and students to find engaging and innovative ways to communicate with a broader public. We, in the Center for Leadership and Engagement, are pleased to support these efforts and to provide outlets on our website for sharing a variety of perspectives.

Doing academia in public view is both a powerful tool and a potentially powerful weapon.

There is no buffer in public writing.

And for many readers the allure of attacking the writer instead of the work is too seductive to deny. That can be a shock when you are accustomed to the civil discourse, no matter how thin or banal, that governs academic critique.

My conception of public scholarship is rooted in critical and culturally responsive pedagogy, which is embodied in my manuscript on “Hip-Hop Epistemology and Culturally Responsive Science Teaching”.   I want to engage publics in critical thinking and the active critique of what is popular and what is powerful. 

The Center for Public Scholarship seeks to promote free inquiry and public discussion, bringing the best scholarship in and outside the academy to bear on the critical and contested issues of our times.

At the same time, I want to hold Robin accountable to his desire for a “materialist analysis of the relationship between politics, economics, and culture.”

I think he wrongly characterizes the conditions under which many of these young academics are writing

The risk of being a public intellectual, he posits, comes from the fact that these scholars are taking time away from their academic writing

"Make sure that someone's got your back, but do the risky thing."

Sidonie Smith, is leading an investigation of future forms of the dissertation, and whose Committee on Information Technology is working on issues surrounding the review of digital scholarship for tenure and promotion.

Real innovation requires risk

the mechanisms of publishing come to stand in for the larger and more complex processes of creating, vetting, and circulating knowledge

if we examine the work that humanists are doing—in something like the way that scholars in the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS) have done for science—by looking at their culture of material practices, then the familiar framework of “publishing” does not serve us well

to publish this scholarship requires that we add some new dimensions to our ideas of “publishing.”

Staff Values People and Community: We value and respect each person, both as an individual and as an integral part of this and other communities. Excellence and Responsibility: We hold ourselves to high standards of quality, responsibility, and accountability in our work. Collaboration: As an ensemble, we value mutuality, group process, shared decision-making and open communication. Diversity: We believe in the importance and complexity of honoring and learning from diversity. Honesty and Integrity: We aim to be straightforward and sincere in our communications and interactions with others. Learning: We hope to nurture individual and organizational growth that is rooted in experience, intentional reflection and multiple ways of knowing. Commitment to a Shared Vision: We derive continual inspiration from our mission and sense of common purpose. Celebration: We take time to acknowledge and appreciate one another and our accomplishments. Creativity: The dynamic context of our work requires a commitment to thoughtful exploration and a willingness to take risks. Advancement of Social Equity: Social justice and civic values are core values for each of us, as well as at the heart of our mission as a center.

Abstract Although substantial areas of agreement exist regarding the characteristics of effective community–university partnerships for research, there is little empirical research on the relationship between the characteristics of such partnerships and their outcomes. In this study, we explored the relationship between partnership characteristics and partnership outcomes. Analyses of the relationships between partnership dynamics and perceived benefits show that (1) effective partnership management is associated with increased research on a community issue, problem, or need; (2) co-creation of knowledge is associated with improved service outcomes for clients; and (3) shared power and resources are negatively associated with increased funding for community partners’ organizations. Our findings suggest that effective partnership management and opportunities for the co-creation of knowledge are practices that are worthy of deliberate cultivation within community–university partnerships for research.