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Community-Campus Partnerships
Planting Seeds through Service
McLean staff assesses student civic learning through community partnerships
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qualitative research study examined the effect of service-learning on strengthening community-university partnerships. Laura Martin, associate director of the University of Mississippi’s McLean Institute, and Albert Nylander, director of the institute, conducted the study. Working with former CEED innovation scholar Janae Owens, Martin and Nylander presented findings from their study of civic learning outcomes among students participating in a yearlong co-curricular service project housed at the McLean Institute. “The expectation is that civic action on the part of the students will support the co-creation of knowledge and facilitate control on the community’s end,” Martin said. “The community, in turn, will support community development and action projects they help create through the student engagement program.”
The mission of the McLean Institute is to advance transformative service throughout the university and fight poverty through education in Mississippi. Guided by this mission, the McLean Institute works to institutionalize community engagement practices in a way that affects quality of life in partner communities. The Student Engagement Fellows program emerged out of a desire to nurture partnerships among student groups and communitybased organizations. Fellows participated in a competitive application process, received a $2,000 scholarship for the academic year and a $500 project budget, and were expected to work collaboratively in order to involve student organizations in community programming and to tailor their projects to community needs. The institute provided assigned readings, led discussions and facilitated project planning. The institute and a community partner located in the Mississippi Delta first sought collaboration in January 2015. The community is a town of
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Long-term engagement from both community partners and university students with high levels of passion for what they are doing is highly effective for transforming communities struggling to provide opportunities for their most vulnerable members.”
M Partner community day in Charleston.
SCHOLARSHIP & ENGAGEMENT FOR THE PUBLIC GOOD: Community Engagement at the University of Mississippi
– Laura Martin
