Education Commons^™

Fostering Collaborations And Partnerships Through Osep Grants, Amy T. Parker, Katina Lambros, Carol Robinson Zanartu, Robert Wall Emerson

Special Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

Presenters from three universities discussed how Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) grant projects have fostered interdisciplinary collaborations and school/community partnerships. This session discussed the powerful lessons that have emerged from those collaborations, which have involved related services personnel in schools (e.g., school psychology, school counseling, special education, speech and language pathology, and school social work), as well as community partners (e.g., transportation specialists, urban designers, and geographers).

Sustainability Of Our Planet And All Species As The Organizing Principle For Slce, Kevin Kecskes, Jennifer Joyalle, Erin Elliott, Jacob D. B. Sherman

Public Administration Faculty Publications and Presentations

We may define and prioritize them differently, but few would deny that our human community is facing intractable problems at local, national, and global scales. We call on higher education institutions (HEIs) around the world to work collectively and with strategic intent and action to use sustainability as an organizing principle to focus service-learning and community engagement (SLCE) activities on the flourishing of our planet and its diverse species.

In the United Nations report, Our Common Future, sustainable development (the future-oriented view of “sustainability”) was defined by World Commission on the Environment and Development members as “the kind of development …

Putting Impact First: Community-University Partnerships To Advance Authentic Neighborhood Sustainability, Michelle L. Holliday, Tony Defalco, Jacob Sherman

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

This article profiles a partnership between the Living Cully ecodistrict and Portland State University’s Sustainable Neighborhoods Initiative. The case studies presented in this article explore how Living Cully leveraged PSU assets to advance their goals, highlighting successes and lessons learned. This article also addresses how the partnership was formed, what makes the partnership innovative, the role of interdisciplinary/intercommunity organizational strategies, and how the community partner commits to urban sustainability and social justice.

A Grateful Recollecting: A Qualitative Study Of The Long-Term Impact Of Service-Learning On Graduates, Ann Fullerton, Vicki L. Reitenauer, Seanna Kerrigan

Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Service-learning practitioners design community engagement activities to affect students in powerful and even transformative ways. This qualitative study explores the long-term impacts (3-16 years after graduation) of participation in a senior-level service-learning course. Through interviews with 20 randomly selected participants, the researchers explored whether and in what ways graduates continued to experience impacts from the course, including those that have become interwoven with other life experiences or have catalyzed altered perspectives and/or actions. Graduates were first asked to identify their most significant learning experiences in college in order to gauge the relative importance, if any, of the service-learning course in …

“Contagious Co-Motion”: Student Voices On Being Change Agents, Vicki L. Reitenauer, Tetiana Korzun, Kimberly Lane, Melinda Joy Roberts

Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Designed in response to students’ requests for a capstone where they could form their own individual partnerships in the communities of their choosing, Effective Change Agent offers a structure for community-based learning that allows for high levels of student choice-making and agency. In this article, the authors describe the course; connect it to literature on grassroots change-making, integrative learning, and service-learning; and, through the inclusion of student authors, allow the sharing of insights in the students’ own voices.

Beyond The University: An Initiative For Continuing Engagement Among Alumni, David Osborn, Jennifer Alkezweeny, Kevin Kecskes

Public Administration Faculty Publications and Presentations

In an effort to leverage students’ positive community engagement experiences as they transition to and become alumni, Portland State University (PSU) embarked on a pilot “Continuing Engagement Program.” This article provides a rationale for this effort, an overview of the programmatic elements, lessons learned, and future engagement strategies. The authors situate the Community Engagement Program (CEP) in the current alumni engagement literature, share findings from the PSU program, and hope to inspire additional creative thinking and action to support alumni and other community members’ persistent engagement for positive community change.

Enacting True Partnerships Within Community-Based Learning: Faculty And Community Partners Reflect On The Challenges Of Engagement, Seanna Kerrigan, Vicki L. Reitenauer, Nora Arevalo-Meier

Public Administration Faculty Publications and Presentations

In the past two decades, the literature on campus-community partnerships as core components of pedagogies of engagement has grown exponentially. In this article, the director and a longtime faculty member of Portland State University’s capstone program report on interviews conducted with ten faculty-community partner pairs, gleaning insights on both the challenges of and lessons learned through partnering. This research adds to the literature through its use of relational methods that bring the voices of interviewees to readers, revealing a depth of connection across the institutional divide.

Sustaining Innovation: Capstones, Curriculum, And Community Partnerships At Portland State University, Amy Spring

University Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Portland State University (PSU) is honored to have the opportunity to create this special issue of Metropolitan Universities. “Curricular Innovation: Engaged Capstones at Portland State University” has offered PSU the meaningful opportunity to reflect and identify some of the hallmarks that have contributed to the successful launch, evolution, and sustainability of the university’s community engagement efforts. This publication shares the story and the lessons derived from PSU’s innovative general education reform, particularly in regard to the senior-level capstone which is the signature and culminating aspect of our community-engaged curriculum. Articles also review complementary pedagogical practices and institutional policies, and some …

Cultivating Community: Faculty Support For Teaching And Learning, Celine Fitzmaurice

University Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Emerging approaches to faculty support are moving away from a “fixing” model to a “relational” model. In this article, the author describes a program of faculty support that places trust and community-building at the center of its efforts. The result is a program in which faculty members engage in a peer-to-peer approach to mentoring, professional exchange, assessment, and reflection.

From Capstones To Strategic Partnerships: The Evolution Of Portland State University’S Community Engagement And Partnership Agenda, Erin Flynn

University Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Portland State University’s (PSU) reputation as an engaged, urban-serving university continues to distinguish it both nationally and locally. Key partnerships with local, public, and private partners provide students, faculty, and staff with remarkable opportunities to contribute to the physical, social, and economic development of the Portland metropolitan region. This article traces the evolution of PSU’s engagement and partnership agenda and shares lessons learned by PSU as it seeks to better coordinate and centralize key components of its vast engagement and partnership portfolio. This reflection describes why and how PSU created an Office of Strategic Partnerships and the role of the …

Online Community-Based Learning As The Practice Of Freedom: The Online Capstone Experience At Portland State University, Deborah Smith Arthur, Zapoura Newton-Calvert

University Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Given the design of Portland State University’s (PSU) undergraduate curriculum culminating in a capstone experience, the dramatic growth in online courses and online enrollments required a re-thinking of the capstone model to ensure all students could participate in this effective learning model and have a powerful learning experience. In recent years, a number of capstone courses have been developed that are offered fully online. This article examines PSU’s development of and institutional support for community-based learning (CBL) capstone courses in a fully online format. Emerging best practices and lessons learned may be useful for other institutions seeking to integrate experiential …

Connecting Curriculum To Community Research: Professional Services, Research, And Teaching, W. Barry Messer, Peter J. Collier

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Portland State University’s Community Environmental Services (CES) has helped shape the Portland metropolitan region’s sustainable materials management practices for more than twenty-five years. CES’s research and program development services have benefited community partners that in turn have provided hundreds of students with rich educational experiences. PSU faculty members also advance their pedagogical and research agendas through the development of CES-affiliated capstone courses. This article explores the CES co-production model from the perspectives of students, faculty members, and community partners.

Transformed Through Relationship: Faculty And Community Partnersgive Voice To The Power Of Partnerships, Seanna M. Kerrigan, Vicki L. Reitenauer

University Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Since the 1990s, hundreds of institutions of higher education have developed community-university partnerships through community-based learning initiatives in order to enhance student learning and strengthen our communities. These partnerships are often built upon ideals of reciprocity and synergy, yet there has been a dearth of rich qualitative assessment to describe the nature of these relationships, the roles played by all of the constituents in these relationships, and the impact that these relationships have on students, faculty, and community partners. This study engaged 10 faculty and their corresponding community partners to document their partnership practices and the impact of these practices …

"Varying Realities Of The Human Experience": University Studies Program At Portland State University, Charles Ryan Brown, Grace L. Dillon, Celine Fitzmaurice, Greg Jacob, Yves P. Labissiere, Antonia Levi, Cherry Muhanji, Candyce Reynolds, Jack C. Straton

University Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Like many institutions of higher education, Portland State University (PSU) has engaged in initiatives to promote a more equitable and democratic society, from curricular changes to institutional policy implementation. In the late 1980s, PSU required students to complete a certain number of “diversity” credits as part of its general education requirements. During the 1990s, PSU radically revised its approach to general education, creating the University Studies Program that places diversity awareness among its core goals. Most recently, current President Daniel O. Bernstine has instituted a comprehensive “Diversity Initiative” as part of a series of initiatives aimed at improving the quality …

A Model For Comprehensive Reform In General Education: Portland State University, Charles R. White

University Studies Assessment Research

Article presenting General Education Working Group Recommendations, research and rational for implementing the University Studies program.