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Schedule-at-a-Glance (.doc)

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The California State University has long been recognized for its faculty who are engaged in community scholarship through service learning, community-based research, creative activity, and other means. Many faculty have expressed the desire to increase the effectiveness of their involvement by enhancing their skills as researchers.

This conference will bring together CSU faculty, as well as their community or student research partners, to learn how to integrate service learning and research, to discuss research methods and results, to build multi-campus and interdisciplinary collaborations, and to share lessons learned from challenges faced while working with communities in California and beyond.

The conference format will lead to opportunities for community scholars-both novice and experienced-to strengthen their contributions to community partnerships, promote civic engagement, and work toward social change.

Conference Goals

• Foster research collaboration across campuses, disciplines, and approaches
• Share research methods and results
• Deepen understanding of research on service-learning pedagogy and other forms of engagement
• Expand skills and knowledge of community-based participatory research

Conference Themes

• Research results and methodology concerning engaged pedagogies (e.g., getting started in service-learning research and publication; qualitative and quantitative service-learning research methods; assessment of the impact of service learning)
• Research results and methodology involving faculty, students, and community (e.g., action research, community-based participatory research involving students)
• Other forms of scholarship that addresses specific community needs (e.g., studies involving disadvantaged youth, public art, environmental quality, specific community impact)

Format

The conference features half-day workshops by invited presenters; intermittent open forums, determined by conference registrants; and panel sessions, for which we have issued a general call for proposals.

Day 1

Workshops

Choose to attend half-day workshops that enable the following:

• Design a service learning course syllabus that complements a pedagogical or discipline-based research agenda.
• Investigate how to use Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) methods with community partners in conducting action research projects.
• Explore the range of opportunities for grants to support community work and focus on logic models as an approach to program design and accountability.
• Identify design strategies and review available tools for qualitative and qualitative-quantitative integrated research.
• Map out a natural pathway of community engagement that unifies teaching, research, and public service for retention, tenure, and promotion.

Day 2

Open Forums

Open forums provide an opportunity for new researchers and practitioners to meet and discuss topics in a less formal setting. These forums will also provide an opportunity for faculty within the same discipline or interest area to gather. Participants will each speak very briefly regarding their experiences or present questions regarding a particular issue. Forum topics will be chosen based on registrants' preferences, which can be indicated on the Conference Registration.

Panel Discussion Sessions

The conference is organized around 60-90 minute Panel Discussion Sessions with 4-5 panelists. Each panelist will present briefly, and a discussant will then summarize the presentations. This will be followed by a discussion with the audience for the remaining time. It is anticipated that audiences will range in size between 30 and 40 participants.

Individual faculty, as well as faculty with community or student research partners, are welcome to submit proposals for review. The Review Committee will select panelists based on a proposal's contribution to one or more of the conference themes; the timeliness of the subject; and the Committee's ability to match proposals to form panels.