The Engaged Scholar Magazine

Student Engagement

Volume 9 features student engagement initiatives at MSU.

Announcements

2015 Lynton Award for the Scholarship of Engagement for Early Career Faculty
Application Deadline: May 15, 2015

12th PASCAL International Observatory Conference - Connecting Cities and Universities at Strategic Frontiers
Proposal Deadline: May 18, 2015

Campus Compact 30th Anniversary Conference
Proposal Deadline: June 19, 2015

Journal of Economic Development in Higher Education Inaugural Issue
Submission Deadline: June 30, 2015

Interdisciplinary Journal of Partnership Studies
Submission Deadline: August 1, 2015

Pen to Paper: Academic Writing Retreat
Application Deadline: August 12, 2015

MSU Earns 2015 Carnegie Community Engagement Classification
MSU's application was commended for documenting the nature and extent of engagement activities.

Transformations in Higher Education: The Scholarship of Engagement Series
Available from MSU Press

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 Certification 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.

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New Hardware and a Social Media Model Create Opportunities for Shared Learning

David Kramer wants to answer big questions about the state of photosynthesis on our planet. Answering these big questions requires a lot of data, and, in the past, gathering this information was not easy: The technology for taking key plant measurements has been expensive, and researchers at different institutions have had no good way of sharing data.

Kramer and his colleagues have overcome these two obstacles with the development of the MultispeQ device—an affordable handheld tool for taking vital plant measurements—and the PhotosynQ software, which makes it possible to upload these measurements into "the cloud" where they can be shared and analyzed by researchers everywhere, to give greater insights into how plants work and how to make them better. The impact of this scholarship provides critical information for scientists, plant breeders, and others to improve the productivity and security of crops in communities around the world ... read more

Collaboration Brings Fresh Ideas for Michigan's State Parks

With 102 state parks and recreation areas, Michigan has one of the largest state park systems in the country. Millions of guests visit these properties each year, and understandably, local businesses that rely on tourism count on these sites to attract millions of dollars as well. While the Recreation Passport program—instituted in 2010—has increased revenue for the parks, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources still operates on a tight budget, one that is unable to address hundreds of millions of dollars in needed capital improvements. The DNR has been called on in recent years to assume responsibility for new properties such as the state's historic parks and Belle Isle in Detroit.

In 2012, MSU's School of Planning, Design, and Construction (SPDC) and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) launched a program that addresses some of the most pressing needs for Michigan's state parks. It is called the MSU-DNR Sustainable Park Planning Partnership, and aims for collaborative learning that puts students to work tackling projects as diverse as trail development and conference center design. The plans they have created have led, so far, to roughly $600,000 in improvements to the park system ... read more

Applying Business Expertise to Area Nonprofits Helps Build Local Capacity

A new course in the MSU Eli Broad College of Business Executive MBA program challenges students to apply their classroom knowledge to real-world experience by collaborating with nonprofit organizations across Michigan to address pressing needs. Although working their way through an intense 20-month cohort program, and busy with families and careers of their own, these students have shown that they are more than up for this challenge.

Cheri DeClercq, assistant dean for the MBA and Professional Masters Programs, developed and organized the Social Impact Project course near the end of 2013 as a way for students to enhance their education by contributing to the community. "I wanted our students to have the opportunity to give back," said DeClercq. "They were given a lot and a lot should be expected." ... read more

CU Expo 2015
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
May 26-29, 2015

Innovations in Collaborative Modeling Conference
East Lansing, Michigan
June 4-5, 2015

4th Annual Deshpande Symposium for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Higher Education
Lowell, Massachusetts
June 9-11, 2015

Summer Solstice Jazz Festival
East Lansing, Michigan
June 19-20, 2015

Great Lakes Folk Festival
East Lansing, Michigan
August 7-9, 2015

4th Annual Innovate Michigan! Summit
East Lansing, Michigan
September 10, 2015

16th Annual Conference of the Engagement Scholarship Consortium
State College, Pennsylvania
September 29-30, 2015

2015 Imagining America Conference
Baltimore, Maryland
September 30 - October 3, 2015

World Usability Day 2015
East Lansing, Michigan
November 12, 2015

2015 Annual Conference of the International Association for Research on Service-learning and Community Engagement
Boston, Massachusetts
November 16-18, 2015

2016 AAAS Annual Meeting - Global Science Engagement
Washington, DC
February 11-15, 2016

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 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 Laurie Van Egeren at (517) 353-8977, or vanegere@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.

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.