We offer semester-long and year-long professional learning opportunities, a collaboration between External Relations and Constituent Engagement (ERCE) and CAFE.

Community-Engaged Scholarship

UMKC faculty produce community-engaged scholarship through reciprocal, mutually beneficial partnerships between the university’s knowledge centers – faculty, students, curriculum, libraries – and community organizations, individuals and resources. Both research and teaching activities fall under the umbrella term of community-engaged scholarship when the activities are grounded in the community and designed with members of the community. Aside from mastering the content area, engaged scholars are also deeply involved in local communities and learn from community partners.

Community-engaged scholarship takes time, patience, and persistence.

Learning series goals

  • Understand the principles and components of place-based scholarship or community-engaged teaching and learning
  • Be able to translate community-identified needs to actionable place-based scholarship or community-engaged teaching and learning that promotes social change
  • Implement community-engaged scholarship in and with diverse communities through cultural competency and intercultural humility
  • Analyze results and make decisions to adapt and course-correct as needed

Community engagement can take many forms. For this opportunity, please select either Place-based scholarship (track one) or community-engaged teaching and learning (track two).

Comparison of the two tracks
 Apply to the placed-based scholarship track if: Apply to the community-engaged teaching and learning track if:
You are starting a new community partnership to support or advance your scholarship   Your community-engagement focus is mainly teaching and learning (i.e., community-engaged learning, service-learning, first-semester impact experiences)
You want to expand your practice and deepen your understanding of community engagement You want to offer community-engaged learning in the future

You are engaging with the community in an official capacity outside of your teaching/research responsibilities

You are an experienced community-engaged scholar and want to re-connect with service-learning/community-engaged learning
You want to earn the microcredential in placed-based scholarship You want to earn the microcredential in community-engaged teaching and learning

Track One - Community-Enaged Scholarship 

UMKC prides itself on being Kansas City's University. In this series, 15 faculty will explore how our sense of place and our relationship with the community affects the way we approach our scholarship. This series will be comprised of seven sessions lasting 60–90 minutes and paced every other week. Supplemental readings and materials will be provided in-between sessions. Faculty participating in this track will earn either a $500 stipend or allocation into a research account for future community collaboration and the place-based scholarship microcredential.

This session is appropriate for those with experience working with the community, in an official or unofficial capacity, as well as for those wishing to enter into that practice for the first time.

  1. Combined Opening Session 1 - Kansas City Today
    • Facilitated by UMKC Staff and Faculty and Community Leaders.
  2. Session 2 - The Fundamentals: The Who, What & Why of Community Engagement
    • Facilitated by Nate Addington and Staff from Indiana University / Purdue University, Indianapolis (IUPUI)
  3. Session 3 - Power Dynamics in Community Partnerships & The Fair-Trade Matrix
    • Facilitated by Jennifer Waddell, Director of the Institute for Urban Education (IUE) and Sprint Foundation Endowed Professor in Urban Education
  4. Combined Session - Collaborating with community partners as coeducators and public scholars
    • Facilitators to be determined
  5. Session 5 - Funding and Finances
    • Facilitated By Dr. Susan Renoe, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research, Extension & Engagement, Missouri University
  6. Session 6 - Legal Issues
    • Facilitated By The National Society of Experiential Education- TENTATIVE
  7. Combined Final Session - Reaching collective impact through engaged scholarship 
    • Facilitation to be determined

Track Two - Community-Engaged Teaching and Learning

Exceptional student learning starts with excellent teaching. In this semester-long professional learning series, fifteen faculty will explore together the public good of teaching and learning through eight facilitated, interactive workshops lasting 60 minutes, and paced every other week. Between meetings, faculty will read chapters from a common book and complete asynchronous reflection and feedback on Canvas. Faculty completing the entire series earn a $500 stipend and the Community-Engaged Teaching and Learning microcredential.

CAFE hopes faculty with a range of experience in service-learning, community-engaged learning, and community-engaged scholarship will participate in this professional learning series as a learning community. To that end, the Community-Engaged Teaching and Learning microcredential incorporates the following competencies for different levels of experience and expertise. 

  1. Combined Opening Session 1- Kansas City Today
    • Facilitated by UMKC Staff and Faculty and Community Leaders.
  2. Session 2: Applying theoretical frameworks to community-engaged teaching and learning
    • Facilitated by Dr. Alexis Petri, CAFE
  3. Session 3: Trauma-informed and cross-cultural competency support for students’ community-engaged learning
    • Facilitated by Dr. Alexis Petri and Misty Campbell, CAFE
  4. Combined Session: Collaborating with community partners as coeducators and public scholars
    • Facilitation to be determined
  5. Session 5: Reflecting and honing the craft of community-engaged teaching and learning
    • Facilitation to be determined
  6. Session 6: Swapping tools: Course agreement forms, student plans, summative evaluation, team assessment, mechanics of the syllabus, community partner goal attainment scaling
    • Facilitated by the CAFE Service and Engagement co-pillar leads
  7. Combined Final Session 7: Reaching collective impact through engaged scholarship  
    • Facilitation to be determined

Schedule

  1. Thursday, September 16, 12–1 p.m.
    • Combined CETL/PBS Opening Session 1 - Kansas City Today
  2. Thursday, September 30, 12–1 p.m.
    • PBS Session 2 The Fundamentals: The Who, What, and Why of Place-Based Scholarship
  3. Thursday, October 7, 12–1 p.m.
    • CETL- Session 2: Applying theoretical frameworks to community-engaged teaching and learning
  4. Thursday, October 21 12–1 p.m.
    • PBS Session 3: Session 3 - Power Dynamics in Community Partnerships & The Fair-Trade Matrix
    • CETL Session 3: Trauma-informed and cross-cultural competency support for students’ community-engaged learning
  5. Thursday, November 4, 12–1 p.m.
    • Combined CETL/PBS Session - Collaborating with community partners as coeducators and public scholars
  6. Thursday, November 18, 12–1 p.m.
    • PBS Session 5 - Legal Issues
    • CETL Session 5: Reflecting and honing the craft of community-engaged teaching and learning
  7. Thursday, December 2, 12–1 p.m. (PBS Session 12–1:30 p.m.)
    • PBS Session 6 - Funding and Finances
    • CETL Session 6: Swapping tools: Course agreement forms, student plans, summative evaluation, team assessment, mechanics of the syllabus, community partner goal attainment scaling
  8. Thursday, December 16, 12–1 p.m.
    • Combined/PBS Final Session 8: Reaching collective impact through engaged scholarship