Barbara Holland, Ph.D. Higher Education Consultant, Professor at Portland State University

VCU’s Division of Community Engagement recently invited Barbara Holland, Ph.D., Higher Ed Consultant, to visit, inspire, and provoke thoughtfulness about community engagement, partnerships and VCU. Through a series of discussions, Barbara posed questions and comments to consider as a university, as educators, as researchers, but also as leaders, as decision-makers, as advocates, as change-agents, as entrepreneurs, and so forth.  Many of the questions are useful in our daily lives. A few that stuck included:

• How do we measure a colorful, amorphous bag of confetti? (hands down, the favorite Barbarism)
• Are we just pushing issues around? Or are we making any organized change?
• How do you know when it’s enough?
• How do we know who is/ who is not participating?
• Are we doing work for? Are we doing work with? Are we doing work on? (What preposition are you doing?)
• How do we tell the whole story, not just the describe the activities?
• If we sprinkle it everywhere, it becomes difficult to avoid and integrated everywhere. This is the pepper strategy.
• Universities neglect community engagement at their own peril.
• If we ask the questions, are we ready and able to respond? How will we use it?

Let’s look at these questions in the context of CEnR.  Clearly we have way more than eight weeks of discussion with the aforementioned questions!  In fact, these questions surpass the scope of any semester or any MOOC- they’re that massive.  CEnR allows us to examine these questions and many more to understand community, impact, reach and if the research is aligned with the community.  CEnR goes beyond statistical analysis that follows formulas and rules. The community-designed process is not formulaic, in the traditional sense, though its rigor should not be depreciated. Barbara argues that institutions traditionally view CEnR as exotic, squishy, fluffy and grassrootsy.  Does non-community engaged research (NCEnR) have the answers? Does NCEnR know how to measure an amorphous bag of confetti?

As an alumna from Portland State University (where Barbara also serves as faculty), I first handily felt how community engagement was elegantly woven into the fabric and culture of teaching, of campus life, and of research. As a student, I consistently worked with the community and in the community.  But, blah, blah, that’s Portland, the Portland bubble.  Now, as a VCU transplant, I feel the paradigm shiftiness and sense a tipping point that has greater force and potential. Higher ed experts like Dr. Hollarn are coming to observe and learn from VCU’s best practices, and eagerly applauding its growth and efforts. Move over, PSU!  This is the time to be here at VCU, as it’s been again nationally recognized for community engagement and high-impact research activity. What’s next? A leader in CEnR? Is it too soon for the confetti throw?

This course, now 2 months from launch, will be a learning experience for all. We look forward to your engagement.

Ps. Fingers crossed Barbara Holland makes a guest appearance in the CMST 691.