NC State’s Office of Extension and Engagement, in collaboration with the University Standing Committee on Extension and Engagement; the Center for Student Leadership, Ethics, and Public Service; and the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning is hosting the Symposium: “The Engaged University” on April 21, 2003, 1:00 – 5:00 pm in Talley Student Center.

The Symposium will open with a presentation “Assessing the Scholarship of Engagement: The Current State of Affairs at NC State.” This presentation is based on the recent EPA survey led by the University Standing Committee on Extension & Engagement. The keynote address will be given by Dr. Edward Zlotkowski. Dr. Zlotkowski is a Senior Associate at the American Association for Higher Education (AAHE) and a senior Faculty Fellow at Campus Compact. A professor of English at Bentley College, he founded the Bentley Service-Learning Project in 1990, an institution-wide program that has involved in its work all of the college’s undergraduate academic departments, more than a quarter of its full-time faculty, and several thousand students. He has written and lectured extensively on the civic responsibility of higher education. His work with campuses across the country informed the production of Campus Compact’s “indicators of engagement,” and one of his current projects involves developing and disseminating a “toolkit” for engagement at the department level. Dr. Zlotkowski views engagement as a powerful force for integrating otherwise discrete reform movements within higher education and has been a strong voice in the development of enabling mechanisms to link university and community. Suggesting that the scholarship of engagement can lead to renewal of the academy’s sense of public purpose and can redefine how and why knowledge is produced, Dr. Zlotkowski calls American higher education to reflect on the importance of authentic engagement with community voices: “The work we need to do we cannot do except in active, personal contact with our community partners.”

The Symposium is open to students, faculty, staff, and members of the community at no charge. Please join us as we learn together about the nature of engagement at NC State.

View the agenda.