Engaged Faculty Scholars

The Engaged Faculty Scholars program allows two faculty members from our network the opportunity to carry out a self-designed project that advances the scholarship of engagement at their institution. The selected faculty also work together to expand faculty engagement at another member campus.

The 12-month program provides a cash stipend, a budget for travel and professional development, and a complimentary resource.

The 2020 Cohort will be announced on June 1.

Current Scholars

Dr. Laura Gonzalez
Associate Professor, Teacher Education and Higher Education Department
UNC Greensboro

As an Engaged Faculty Scholar, Gonzalez will work to create a guidebook specifically for school staff who work with students with various immigration statuses. This guidebook will include personal narratives from people in the school system to help raise awareness of these experiences while nurturing empathy among teachers and administrators. A practical approach focused on how to work effectively with students who might be navigating similar barriers to educational pathways such as lack of in-state tuition for DACA recipients will also be included.

In her proposal, Gonzalez highlights the need for a resource guide in the educational setting:

“Both the national literature base and our local interviewees have indicated that many school staff are unaware of resources to help students with DACA or who are undocumented in their post-secondary educational planning, so students have relied on networks of peers and immigration advocacy groups in the community.”

Dr. Scott Hicks
Director of the Teaching & Learning Center and Professor of English, Theatre, and Foreign Languages
UNC Pembroke 

As an Engaged Faculty Scholar, Hicks will enhance faculty development in service-learning and sustainability. He hopes to create sound partnerships with faculty, students and among the Teaching & Learning Center that can lead to the creation of sustained service-learning experiences.  Ultimately, Hicks’s project will advance sustainability learning outcomes in classes enrolling highly diverse students, including those from lower-socioeconomic backgrounds.

In his proposal, highlights the importance of this work across higher education:

“ecological challenges confront higher education with a newfound sense of urgency. My project will ideate, implement, and assess service-learning focused on sustainability applicable across disciplines and cohorts and engage faculty, students, and community partners in robust assessment.”

See the news article on Hicks’s selection.

Past Scholars
2018 – 2019
Dr. Jennifer Ahern-Dodson, Assistant Professor of the Practice, Writing Studies Duke University
Learn more.
Dr. Rebecca Dumlao, Professor of Communication
East Carolina University

2017 – 2018

Dr. Jacquelyn Lee, Assistant Professor of Social Work, UNC Wilmington
Learn more.

Dr. Beth Wall-Bassett, Associate Professor of Nutrition & Dietetics
Western Carolina
Learn more.

2016 – 2017

Dr. Maggie Commins, Associate Professor of Political Science
Queens University of Charlotte
News article on Commins’s selection

Dr. Cara Kozma, Assistant Professor of English
High Point University
News article on Kozma’s selection

2015 – 2016

Dr. Annie Jonas, Professor and Chair of the Education Department
Warren Wilson College
News article about Dr. Jonas’ selection

Dr. Ashley Oliphant,  Associate Professor of English
Pfeiffer University
News article about Dr. Oliphant’s selection

Program Goals

Goal One: Promote and Deepen the Scholarship of Engagement at Scholars Own Institution

The Scholar can fulfill this expectation in at least one of the following ways:

  • Develop or enhance an academic service-learning course component.  The service-learning must be a new integration or for a new class.
  • Conduct a community-based applied or participatory research project.
  • Form a new community-campus partnership or expand a current partnership. We are especially interested in ideas that build or increase the depth of the partnership.
  • Design and implement a plan to enhance public scholarship as a legitimate and rigorous form of scholarly work on campus.
  • Promote the use of service-learning as a teaching pedagogy by facilitating professional development.
  • Create or build upon civic engagement initiatives on campus.
  • Conduct research on the impact of service-learning/community engagement/public scholarship on participants (students, faculty, community partners).

Goal Two: Assist in building the infrastructure for faculty engagement on another NC Campus Compact member institution

  • Provide technical assistance to a member institution (identified by NC Campus Compact) that is in the early stages of promoting the scholarship of engagement to include, but not limited to:
  • At least two in-person consultations
  • Regular correspondence (phone and/or email) throughout the year 

Other opportunities for engagement are available throughout the program year.  Participation in these opportunities is not required but encouraged.

Program Benefits

Each Scholar will receive the following compensation upon successful completion of the program:

  • Financial stipend of $1000
  • Up to $250 travel reimbursement for visiting the partner institution (the mileage reimbursement rate is .555 per mile)
  • Up to $250 for professional development (e.g. conference or training attendance support)
  • At least one free civic engagement publication

Colleges and universities are encouraged to provide a match of cash, course release, and/or other resources and recognition.

Terms and Conditions

The stipend will be given at the conclusion of the program, upon fulfillment of program expectations.

North Carolina Campus Compact will ask for a report at the end of the program period that will be posted on our website (along with other provided materials) and used as a resource for future Faculty Scholars.

Program Eligibility

This program is only open to faculty from North Carolina Campus Compact member institutions. This is a competitive application process.  Faculty who demonstrate that their scholarship is responsive to community need, with the potential to establish long-term benefits to North Carolinians, will receive preference. Two individuals will be selected annually. 

Desired qualities in nominees:

  • History of engaged teaching or scholarship
  • A desire for new learning about service and engaged scholarship
  • An interest in working with faculty at other institutions in the state
  • The capacity to effectively communicate and disseminate the results of their research and engaged scholarship to public, academic, and external audiences
  • Commitment to actively participate in the program 

Program Timeline

  • Application released: 1st week in March 
  • Application Deadline: 2nd week in May
  • Acceptance Notification: 1st week in June 
  • Program Period: July 1 to June 30

Contact

Contact Leslie Garvin, Executive Director, with any questions, (336) 278-7278.