ERIC Number: EJ1163714
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2017
Pages: 26
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1534-6102
EISSN: N/A
Whose Job Is It, Anyway? The Place of Public Engagement in The Liberal Arts College
Christie, Luke D.; Djupe, Paul A.; O'Rourke, Sean Patrick; Smith, Elizabeth S.
Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, v21 n4 p23-49 2017
The calls for academics to engage the public have grown, motivated by concerns for civic health and for maintaining public and political support for higher education and academic research. Whatever its value to the public sphere, there is still considerable uncertainty about whether and how public engagement counts--is it valued by colleagues and institutions in promotion and tenure decisions? We sought to provide evidence to assess the value of public engagement with experimental and observational methods set in a survey of faculty from seven liberal arts colleges. We find that public engagement is valued and engaged by these faculty, with variation observed by institution, mode of public engagement, and college division (arts faculty the most supportive and science faculty the least). We recommend institutions communicate clearly how they value public engagement; until that point, academics should tread carefully as they seek public audiences and partnerships.
Descriptors: Liberal Arts, Teacher Surveys, School Community Relationship, School Community Programs, Relevance (Education), Value Judgment, Institutional Mission, Tenure, Faculty Promotion, Merit Rating, Teacher Evaluation, Gender Differences, Teacher Attitudes, Regression (Statistics), School Support, College Programs
Office of the Vice President for Public Service and Outreach, University of Georgia and the Institute of Higher Education. Treanor House, 1234 South Lumpkin Street, Athens, GA 30602. Tel: 706-542-6167; Fax: 706-542-6124; e-mail: jheoe@uga.edu; Web site: http://openjournals.libs.uga.edu/index.php/jheoe
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A