Urban Perspectives
Volume No. 5 features collaborative partnerships and research on the diverse issues facing urban areas.

Next Issue's Focus: Economic Development. Available Fall 2011

Announcements

Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship
Deadline for Manuscripts: August 31, 2011

Tools of Engagement Learning Modules
Online curriculum modules are available for use by MSU faculty to introduce undergraduate students to the concept of university-community engagement.

MSU Graduate Certificate in Community Engagement
Program prepares graduate students for academic careers that integrate scholarship with community engagement. It offers students a transcript notation indicating that they have completed the program.
Deadline for Applications: September 16, 2011

Handbook of Engaged Scholarship:
Contemporary Landscapes, Future Directions, Volumes 1 and 2
Available from MSU Press

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Projects by Birbeck and DeLind Represent MSU for Prestigious Regional and National Awards

For the third consecutive year, two outstanding projects were selected to represent Michigan State University in a national award program that recognizes university-community partnerships. The projects were placed in consideration for the regional W. K. Kellogg Foundation Engagement Award and the national C. Peter Magrath University/Community Engagement Award, based on the recommendations of President Lou Anna K. Simon and Provost Kim A. Wilcox. The nominations were submitted in March.

Dr. Gretchen L. Birbeck, associate professor and director of the International Neurologic and Psychiatric Epidemiology Program, works with people affected by epilepsy in Zambia. Dr. Laura B. DeLind, senior academic specialist in the Department of Anthropology and visiting assistant professor in the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities, is the catalyst for a local effort to develop a food system infrastructure in an urban area long regarded as a "food desert." ... read more

Helping Kids Make Healthy Choices in Grand Rapids

Through a series of conversations with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, Denise Holmes, Associate Dean for Government Relations and Outreach in MSU's College of Human Medicine and Director of the Institute for Health Care Studies, developed a project aimed at addressing the problem of childhood obesity in Michigan, specifically in Grand Rapids.

Project FIT aims to prevent childhood obesity by promoting healthy lifestyles in schools and the surrounding communities. The project is a partnership among many MSU departments, four Grand Rapids public schools, local health care systems, neighborhood associations, faith-based groups, businesses, and agencies, with funding by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. Holmes' role is to provide direction to this group—promoting teamwork, making sure the resources are appropriately assigned, and encouraging the research ... read more

Transforming Transportation Research Corridor Consortium

MSU, University of Michigan, Wayne State University Focus on Knowledge, Systems, and Solutions to Transform the Future of Transportation and Revitalize Economies and Communities

Michigan State University has a lead role in providing research-based insights and innovative solutions for an industry that is both significant in Michigan's history and vital to its future.

The University Research Corridor's (URC) partner institutions, including MSU, the University of Michigan, and Wayne State University, established the Transforming Transportation Research Corridor Consortium in 2010 to accelerate the implementation of innovative transportation systems at the intersection of technology, livability, labor and supply chain, economic and environmental sustainability, social equity, and public policy.

"The Consortium has emerged to fill a major gap in systematic research on transforming the future of transportation," said Hiram E. Fitzgerald, MSU Associate Provost for University Outreach and Engagement. "We are a catalyst for collaborative partnerships, anchored in scholarship, that include researchers, industry practitioners, and policymakers." ... read more

CU Expo 2011
Community-University Partnerships: Bringing Global Perspectives to Local Action
Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
May 10-14, 2011

Strategic Doing: Building a Systemic Approach to Engaged Scholarship in Southeast Michigan and Detroit
Meeting will be facilitated by Ed Morrison using Strategic Doing Process
East Lansing, Michigan
May 12, 2011

Fundraising for Engagement: Leveraging Internal and External Resources for Institutional Engagement
Roanoke, Virginia
June 10-12, 2011
Deadline for Registration: May 27, 2011

Talloires Network Global Leaders Conference
Madrid, Spain
June 14-16, 2011

The Legacy and the Promise: 150 Years of Land-Grant Universities
State College, Pennsylvania
June 22-24, 2011

Imagining America 12th Annual Conference
Minneapolis, Minnesota
September 22-24, 2011

Critical Issues in Higher Education
Buffalo, New York
September 26-27, 2011

National Outreach Scholarship Conference
Hosted by Michigan State University
East Lansing, Michigan
October 2-4, 2011

International Association for Research on Service-learning and Community Engagement
Chicago, Illinois
November 2-4, 2011

World Usability Day
World Usability Day
November 10, 2011

Looking for Project Partners?

University-Community Partnerships

Collaboration and partnership with communities are at the core of engaged scholarship. In all of its work, University Outreach and Engagement emphasizes university-community partnerships that are collaborative, participatory, empowering, systemic, transformative, and anchored in scholarship. If you are a faculty or academic staff member wanting to establish a partnership with community partners to work on a specific research issue, University Outreach and Engagement can help you. Our University-Community Partnerships (UCP) staff, specialists, and researchers have established connections across the state in a number of areas such as education, mental health, human services, business, and government. For more information, contact Bob Brown at (517) 432-1450 or brownr23@msu.edu.

Focus: HOPE, Detroit, MI

Opportunities for partnership exist around the following areas: Service Learning, Student Internships and Placements, Faculty Research Partnerships, and Development of Innovative Solutions to Pressing Social Problems. For more information, contact Deborah E. Fisher at (313) 494-4306 or fisherd@focushope.edu, or visit http://ucp.msu.edu/partnerships/.

ES 360° Feedback ...

We would like to hear from you. Contact us with comments, suggestions, announcements, or “engaged scholar” project information for future e-newsletters. Send to Carla Hills: engaged.scholar@msu.edu or call (517) 353-8977.