Role of the Office for Public and Community-Engaged Scholarship
The Office for Public and Community-Engaged Scholarship (formerly named the Office for Outreach and Engagement) is the lead CU Boulder unit for building the campus’s capacity to undertake public and community-engaged scholarship.
The Academic Futures 2018 report The Future of CU Boulder as a Public University: Embracing the Core Mission of Furthering the Public Good articulates that public scholarship is an "indispensable part of a comprehensive, public research university of the future" and that "public scholarship is one important way that the university can have a central voice in what constitutes the public good."
Our office supports individual projects and partnerships and connects those activities to the broader campus context, and our approach values diverse traditions and methodologies from across academic disciplines and fields.
Ultimately, our work contributes to a campus culture that recognizes such work as essential to the university’s mission as a public flagship and comprehensive research university and enables and rewards it accordingly.
How we support individual projects and partnerships:
Our office supports public and community-engaged faculty and staff members through program funding and partnership development. We also help tell the story of CU Boulder’s public and community-engaged scholarship through campus and public media. Our team members are available for consultation about funding opportunities, developing relationships with community or campus partners, best practices from the field of engaged scholarship, conferences and professional development opportunities, evaluating projects, communications, and more.
How we connect activities to the broader campus context:
The Office for Public and Community-Engaged Scholarship is part of the Division of Continuing Education, overseen by the dean of Continuing Education and vice provost for Outreach and Engagement. Our office convenes the Public and Community-Engaged Scholarship Advisory Group on behalf of the vice provost. This body addresses issues and opportunities related to CU Boulder’s outreach and engagement activities (i.e., public and community-engaged scholarship, service learning, volunteerism, government and nonprofit relations) and informs campus strategy and promotes, facilitates and supports public and community-engaged scholarship at CU Boulder.
The Community Outreach and Engagement Programs website is maintained by our office and is a searchable directory of CU Boulder Outreach and Engagement activities, stories and statistics.