Coming to Critical Engagement

An Autoethnographic Exploration

Frank A Fear author Cheryl L Rosaen author Richard J Bawden author Pennie G Foster-Fishman author Patricia P Miller editor

Format:Paperback

Publisher:University Press of America

Published:16th May '06

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Coming to Critical Engagement cover

Engagement is the label increasingly embraced by higher education to describe activities associated with serving the public interest. What had been viewed previously as service to, extension of, and outreach from is now engagement with as faculty members, students, and staff collaborate with partners in community affairs. This book describes how members of a faculty learning community have come to understand engagement as both intellectual endeavor and scholarly practice at the interface between academy and citizenry. Coming to Critical Engagement argues that the academy has a moral imperative to participate deliberately and consistently in democratic and systemic discourse with the public.

Coming to Critical Engagement suggests helpful, hopeful thinking for people in academic contexts who wish to establish transformative practices as they interact with community partners. The [book] mov[es] away from the politics of institutional identity and mov[es] toward the pursuit of transformational discovery…and dramatically increases our chances of serving the greater good. -- Stephen M. Buhler, Professor and Past Project Convener for the W. K. Kellogg Foundation's Leadership for Institutional Change, University of Nebras
This is an insightful, critical, and scholarly book that sets out why universities should engage and what that might entail...More than ever [there is] a need for new forms of democratic discourse and collaborative actions to solve problems...This timely book will be widely welcomed. -- Jules Pretty, Professor & Head of Biological Sciences Department, University of Essex and Chief Editor, International Journal of Agric
This work is distinguished by its thoughtful and scholarly foundations. Though engagement is guided by intuition, trial and error, and seat-of-the-pants notions, it fundamentally progresses because of its scholarly foundations, thoughtful reflections, and deep commitments. -- Peg Barratt, Professor, Michigan State University
[This book] encourages all of us to think about, write about, and share our reflections on our work as engaged scholars. The book is a call…[to] question our assumptions, collaborate with colleagues, and learn from and with those we claim we are trying to understand. -- Alan Mandell, professor; director, Mentoring Institute, Empire State College

ISBN: 9780761834717

Dimensions: 228mm x 163mm x 23mm

Weight: 490g

324 pages