Volume 7 - Issue 2 - Home Page

January 2015 | Volume 7, Issue 2

Featured MSU Engaged Scholars

MSU Earns 2015 Carnegie Community Engagement Classification

MSU Earns 2015 Carnegie Community Engagement Classification

"Dynamic and noteworthy community engagement" cited by reviewers from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

Michigan State University has earned the 2015 Community Engagement Classification from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

MSU's application was commended for documenting the nature and extent of engagement activities, including the alignment among campus mission, culture, leadership, resources, and practices that support dynamic and noteworthy community engagement.

"This acknowledges Michigan State's focus on supporting community prosperity and quality of life from the ground up, not the top down," MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon said. "An ethos of real collaboration is not incompatible with being a top-100 global research university." ... read more

Environmental Ethics, Climate Change, and Building Tribal Resilience
  • Kyle Powys Whyte, Ph.D.
  • Timnick Chair in the Humanities
  • Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy
  • College of Arts and Letters

Environmental Ethics, Climate Change, and Building Tribal Resilience

"From the Everglades to the Great Lakes to Alaska and everywhere in between, climate change is a leading threat to natural and cultural resources across America, and tribal communities are often the hardest hit by severe weather events such as droughts, floods, and wildfires." This statement, from Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, sums up concerns indigenous leaders have raised throughout the world. Though native peoples contribute very little to the causes of climate change, they often suffer inordinately from the effects.

Kyle Powys Whyte uses his expertise in environmental ethics to address ways to build tribal resilience to the effects of climate change. When Whyte came to Michigan State five years ago, he began looking at some of the environmental challenges faced by tribes in the Great Lakes region ... read more

MSU Priorities

Community and Economic Development in the 21st Century

Beef Production Systems Research Benefits Local Agricultural and Entrepreneurial Stakeholders
  • Jason Rowntree, Ph.D.
  • Faculty Coordinator, Lake City Research Center
  • Assistant Professor, Department of Animal Science
  • College of Agriculture and Natural Resources

Beef Production Systems Research Benefits Local Agricultural and Entrepreneurial Stakeholders

Located 45 miles south of Traverse City, MSU's Lake City Research Center aims to become a national leader in pasture-based, lower-cost beef production systems.

Jason Rowntree, faculty coordinator at the center, is leading a team of researchers in a collaborative study funded by the United States Department of Agriculture-Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education that utilizes every level of the beef value chain—producers, packers/processors, distributors, retailers, and culinary specialists—to help small- to medium-sized farms fill the demand for locally sourced, grass-finished beef.

"The small- and medium-sized farm is the most rapidly disappearing segment of the industry," said Rowntree. "We try to develop opportunities for these businesses to thrive ... read more

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 Burton Bargerstock, Executive Director of the Office for Public Engagement and Scholarship, at (517) 353-8977 or bb@msu.edu.

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: engaged.scholar@msu.edu.

Resources

MSU Graduate Certification in Community Engagement
This program prepares graduate students for 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.

Transformations in Higher Education: The Scholarship of Engagement Series
Available from Michigan State University Press

Like this E-Newsletter? Subscribe