Institutionalizing Justice: Community Engagement Practices in Higher Education

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 3:45 pm - Gold 2
  In Roundtable Session: Experiential Education and Community Engagement: Scholarship and Practice SIG Roundtable 2

Abstract

The expansion and institutionalization of community engagement across higher education institutions has given rise to critical perspectives that interrogate the underlying assumptions and dynamics of this deeply relational work. Critical service-learning is a transformative approach that embodies a social change orientation, promotes the redistribution of power, and develops authentic relationships. Using critical service-learning as an analytical framework, our study qualitatively analyzes formal institutional definitions of community engagement submitted via the 2020 and 2024 Carnegie Elective Community Engagement Classification applications. Our findings underscore the importance of ongoing reflective practices in fostering deeper learning and stronger community partnerships. Temporality also emerged as essential for sustaining partnerships and developing civic dispositions.

Authors

• Diana Quito, Rollins College

• Emily Locke, University of Alabama

• Henry Cunningham, University of Louisville

• Andrew Pearl, Kansas State University

• Tanvi Padalkar, University of Alabama - Birmingham