Learning Opportunities for Faculty and Academic Staff

In December 2012, Michigan State University President Lou Anna K. Simon presented a new Bolder by Design strategic framework, which included an imperative to "enhance the culture of high performance." This imperative refocused and recommitted institutional resources to professional development for faculty and academic staff. In response, University Outreach and Engagement expanded existing and introduced new professional development resources, programs, and services to support scholarly contributions that serve the broader community. See calendar for details.

The Engaged Scholar Speaker Series

ncsue.msu.edu/esss

The National Collaborative for the Study of University Engagement organizes the Engaged Scholar Speaker Series to bring renowned speakers to campus to address big-picture issues related to the theory and practice of outreach and engagement. Invited speakers have given talks on such topics as the important role of collaborative art-making in society, public understanding of and engagement with science, and engagement in a global context. In addition to public talks and networking receptions, invited speakers visit classes, brainstorm with interdisciplinary research teams, and consult with interested scholars individually.

Service-Learning Toolkit

In 2015, the Center for Service-Learning and Civic Engagement developed a toolkit for faculty and academic staff interested in incorporating service-learning into their courses. This toolkit offers recommendations of how to implement a high quality service-learning experience, combining information from service-learning publications and MSU's extended history of community engagement. Many practical tools, resources, and templates are also provided through supplemental reading suggestions, web links, and the appendix.

Other Opportunities

In addition to the ongoing programs described above, UOE offers many community-university networking activities, one-time workshops, and training sessions for MSU faculty and academic staff. These have included networking events to connect campus-based faculty, staff, and graduate students with one another and with community partners in specific geographic regions, such as Detroit and Flint, as well as a variety of community engagement conferences that UOE has hosted on campus, such as the 2008 and 2012 Pre-College Programs Conference, the 2005 International Association for Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement Conference, the 2011 National Outreach Scholarship Conference, and the 2015 Innovations in Collaborative Modeling Conference. MSU faculty, staff, and graduate students were well represented at these regional, national, and international conferences.

Topical workshops are offered based on perceived need, resources available, and other criteria as determined by the UOE Educational Programs Team (see p. 38 for a list of the criteria). Workshops for 2015-2016 include the following.

NSF Broader Impacts Workshops

February 4-5, 2016

Proposals submitted to the National Science Foundation are evaluated not only on intellectual merit, but also on their broader impacts—the proposed activity to benefit society and contribute to the achievement of specific, desired societal outcomes. Broader impacts activities are critical to show the relevance of the research, and are increasingly determining which of the many excellent proposals get funded. These sessions, conducted by Dr. Susan Renoe and Dr. Sara Vassmer of the NSF-funded National Alliance for Broader Impacts, describe the broader impacts criterion, how to address it successfully in proposals, and how to identify innovative ways to implement broader impacts activities. Individual 2-4 hour sessions are targeted to grants development staff, faculty and academic staff, postdocs, and graduate students. Sponsored by UOE, the Office of the Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies, and Science and Society@State (S3).

Put Your Theory into Practice with Service-Learning: Part 2

February 19, 2016

The Center for Service-Learning and Civic Engagement and the College of Social Science are collaborating on a new two-part training series on developing a service-learning course. The first training introduces service-learning as a high-impact educational practice, discusses its quality components, features MSU faculty teaching service-learning classes, and offers tools for service-learning course development. Building on the fall training, the second installment delves deeper into service-learning course development and facilitates connections to community partner organizations. This session provides faculty with further tools, resources, and support to create a course development plan and receive feedback from peers.

Effective Public Engagement for Scientists Workshop

February 25-26, 2016

UOE has partnered with the College of Communication Arts and Sciences and Dr. John Besley, associate professor and Ellis N. Brandt Chair in Public Relations, to bring nationally recognized science communications trainings to campus. In 2015, the American Academy for the Advancement of Science provided public engagement workshops for graduate students, post-docs, faculty, and staff. Jeanne Braha offered "Communicating Science: Tools for Scientists and Engineers." In 2016, trainers from Compass, a nationally recognized nonprofit promoting effective science communications, will offer a similar training.

Community Engaged Research: Getting Started

March 18, 2016

This program provides a basic introduction for faculty and academic staff relatively new to community engagement. While workshop presenters offer an overview of principles and practices, the main focus is on developing a practical research plan, including the identification of potential community partners, development of research statements, and consideration of various community collaboration approaches.