Message from the Interim Associate Provost

Featured MSU Engaged Scholars

La Cosecha (The Harvest): Growing Sustainable Farming Businesses

David Mota-Sanchez, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Entomology
College of Agriculture and Natural Resources

New farmers attempting to establish a profitable farming business face daunting challenges: a steep learning curve, expensive acreage and equipment, federal and local guidelines, the need for credentials and business savvy, stiff competition, and a declining labor force, to say nothing of pest damage and climate concerns. For Latino/a farmers, these challenges can be intensified by cultural and linguistic barriers. For new farmers to be successful, access to funding and up-to-date information is indispensable.

David Mota-Sanchez, assistant professor in MSU's Department of Entomology, directs La Cosecha, a three-year training program for first and next generation Latino/a farmers, that seeks to help farmers access the resources they need to establish sustainable farms that can potentially be passed to the next generation ... read more

Commemorating the Year of COVID in Dance and Spoken Narrative

Brad Willcuts, MFA
Assistant Professor, Department of Theatre
College of Arts and Letters

Dance is for the most part a social thing. People tend to dance together. So you might think doing collaborative dance projects during a pandemic lockdown would be impossible.

Brad Willcuts thinks otherwise.

Willcuts is an assistant professor who teaches musical theatre and choreography in MSU's Department of Theatre. He has a long-standing interest in virtual reality and other technological enhancements to the performance experience.

He is also always on the lookout for projects that engage with the public. Currently he has several irons in the fire ... read more

Critical Connections: Rural Broadband Access and School Learning Gaps

Keith Hampton, Ph.D.
Professor and Quello Center Associate Director for Academic Research
Department of Media and Information
College of Communication Arts and Sciences

Johannes M. Bauer, Ph.D.
Professor, Quello Center Director, and Quello Chair in Media and Information Policy
Department of Media and Information
College of Communication Arts and Sciences

In groundbreaking research led by Keith Hampton, professor in MSU's College of Communication Arts and Sciences, and Johannes M. Bauer, professor and MSU Quello Center director, there is now evidence that middle and high school students who cannot connect sufficiently to the Internet at home are falling behind in educational accomplishments. It has been called the homework gap, but it's so much more than that.

Partnering with Merit Network, a Michigan nonprofit with extensive roots in technology development and advocacy, Hampton and Bauer worked with a dedicated network of collaborators to measure and quantify the realities of broadband access in rural communities, and what it means for educating Michigan's students. ... read more

Announcements and Events

Outreach and Engagement Resources

MSU Graduate Certification in Community Engagement
This 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.

Community Engagement Toolkits
Designed by the Center for Community Engaged Learning to guide and support MSU faculty, students, staff, and community partners.

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.

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

Looking for Community Partners?

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 community partnership, University Outreach and Engagement may be able to help you. Our staff and researchers have connections across the state in areas such as education, mental health, human services, business, and government. For more information, contact Laurie Van Egeren, Interim Associate Provost for University Outreach and Engagement at (517) 353-8977, or vanegere@msu.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 Amy Byle: engaged.scholar@msu.edu or call (517) 353-8977.

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