Launched in July 2014, CU Engage supports programs and initiatives that work collaboratively with community groups to address complex public challenges through academic courses, research projects, and creative work. We do this by developing and sustaining equity-oriented partnerships, organizing opportunities for students to learn alongside community members, and supporting faculty and students to implement ethical and rigorous engaged research.
CU Engage is based in the School of Education and serves the whole 麻豆影院 campus. It represents the 麻豆影院 campus' effort to coordinate and sustain its various community engagement efforts in one academic unit. This means that several longstanding, high quality CU programs are now part of CU Engage. Consistent with the priorities of CU鈥檚 Flagship 2030 Strategic Plan, CU Engage advances the academic mission of the university by fostering a culture of inquiry and experiential learning among students, raising the visibility, quality, and status of community-based research on the 麻豆影院 campus, and contributing to more inclusive practices for students, staff, and faculty.
CU Engage supports two focal activities: Community-Based Learning Pathways听补苍诲听Community-Based Research聽(CBR).听These activities are linked through the formation of partnerships with community groups, public agencies, and schools. We utilize the definition of community engagement provided by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching:
Community Engagement describes the collaboration between higher education institutions and their larger communities (local, national, global) for the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources in a context of partnership and reciprocity.
CU Engage鈥檚 approach to student learning prioritizes experience (learning by doing), reciprocity (work with rather than for communities), and intellectual rigor rooted in academic disciplines. Typically, learning opportunities for students draw on disciplinary expertise to meet a need identified by a community partner, such as for mentoring, youth empowerment, or environmental design. For example, students enrolled in an educational psychology course learn disciplinary content by working alongside youth in 麻豆影院 County after-school programs. Their experiences are structured through purposeful integration of theory and practice; students enact a repertoire of mentoring and tutoring skills while having opportunities to reflect on their actions and assumptions, which are assessed through regular feedback on student field notes. 聽
Engaged learning opportunities also include the chance for students to do . Community-Based Research (CBR) emphasizes the rigorous pursuit of knowledge in the context of reciprocal university-community partnerships. CBR projects aspire to combine the resources and expertise located in communities with academic knowledge. Inquiry can be motivated by the effort to investigate or uncover the roots of a problem or to document and elevate hidden strengths. In both cases, the goal is to use research methods to inform a public issue or support community development.
CU Engage is separate from but closely allied with CU 麻豆影院鈥檚 , which serves as another valuable resource for connecting research, teaching and creative work with public needs and interests. The Office for Outreach and Engagement supports a variety of outreach and engagement programs, initiatives and resources, while CU Engage is focused specifically on supporting community-based learning and research opportunities that align with聽our core聽values. To find out more about other campus-wide programs, visit the website.
We invite you to contact us if you are interested in participating in, or supporting, CU Engage鈥檚 work in community-based learning and research.
Our Values
Equity & Inclusion:
Our programs emphasize inclusive practices that foster the聽intellectual and collaborative engagement of every person, regardless of national origin,聽age, race, ethnicity, religion, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, ability,聽socioeconomic status, veteran status, or political affiliation. We adopt a 鈥渃ultural wealth鈥澛爌erspective that recognizes and showcases the collective knowledge and resources of聽underserved communities.
Reciprocity:
We seek to build relationships with community partners that are mutually聽beneficial and collaborative (鈥渄oing with鈥�), rather than exploitative (鈥渄oing to鈥�) or聽paternalistic (鈥渄oing for鈥�). Reciprocal relationships like this begin when both partners can聽articulate their self-interests and, over time, work together towards common goals. 聽This聽working together acknowledges and respects different forms of culture, knowledge,聽expertise, and capacity.
Public impact:
We seek to contribute to projects that define the public in a broad, and聽inclusive way and strive to build, strengthen, or reclaim 鈥減ublic goods,鈥� such as access to聽quality education, health and well-being, or clean environments. Our focus on public impact聽is consistent with CU-麻豆影院鈥檚 mission 鈥渢o serve Colorado, the nation, and the world.鈥�
Democracy:
For the purposes of CU Engage, denotes a broad set of practices in which people collectively聽engage the public world to bring about change. Democracy refers to a quality of participation that involves working with others, across聽differences, with full inclusion, towards common solutions.