The daily news cycle provides no shortage of reminders that higher education is operating in a changing environment, and the pace of change continues to grow. Campus leaders and educators are faced with new challenges in terms of student needs, workforce demands, and social change. Issues of inclusion, freedom, and justice on campus and in the broader world demand that courses are both rigorous and relevant.

Service-learning and community-engagement projects answer this call by spanning the boundary between classroom learning, university research, and real community needs. As we increasingly encounter complex and interconnected issues that require equally complex and interdisciplinary solutions, this boundary-spanning becomes even more important. Students benefit from gaining the skills and knowledge of the ways distinct disciplines relate to each other, which better prepares them for the careers of the future and the needs of their communities. Teachers and researchers must have support for innovating their practices in the face of these changes. It is also critical that community organizations and leaders have a voice to co-create the education and research that impacts the issues they address daily.

All across the country, institutions of higher education recognize these needs and are responding by making these connections possible and ensuring that community-engaged teaching, learning, and research are conducted in ethical, high-quality ways that maximize impact for all involved.

Emily Shields, Ph.D.

Executive Director

Iowa and Minnesota Campus Compact