Universities recognize they have a civic responsibility to engage and enrich the community in which they reside. This study looks at a community engagement project undertaken at one university that was intended to address significant recreational needs within the community while also furthering academic initiatives. As part of the appeal to…

Purpose: This paper aims to examine the broad concept of university-community partnerships as it applies to creating sustainability initiatives. The benefits of university-community partnerships are increasingly recognized, and this paper offers direct insights from community stakeholders on the principles, functions and activities they see as…

This research paper explores the relationship between compassion, meaning-making, and curricular community engaged learning (CEL) in a university setting. We contend that CEL, as a key form of community-focused experiential learning (EL), can play an important role in helping address the wellbeing of students, faculty, and staff by providing…

The Teaching and Learning Network (TLN) at the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada, represents an effective network model for faculty and educational leadership development. Grounded in the principles of communities of practice (Wenger, 1998), the TLN is a collaborative network that fosters interdisciplinary dialogue, relationship building,…

This article documents and analyses Black student-led organizing by Community-University Talks, a collective of academics and local community members who organized together between 2012 and 2017 in Montreal. The co-authors of this article founded Community-University Talks in December 2011, as Black women who had just begun doctoral studies in…

This paper reviews the Digital Detox project at TRU. At TRU, the Digital Detox is not necessarily about abstaining from technology altogether, but rather establishing a more ethical, healthier approach to the tools we are required to use every day. Conceived this way, a Digital Detox offers an approachable opportunity to discuss difficult and…

The degree to which Universities could nimbly and effectively respond to the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on their local communities depended upon the structure and orientation of their community engagement infrastructure. Institutions that support a hyperlocal form of place-based engagement were uniquely positioned to harness their extensive…

Plurilingualism has populated the intersection of theory and pedagogy with practices that support the inclusion of diverse linguistic and cultural identities in language education. In some educational contexts, such as English for Academic Purposes (EAP), plurilingual practices can be met with resistance due to systemic target-language-only…

Since 2009, the Community Engaged Scholarship Institute at the University of Guelph has operated a science shop (the Research Shop) where it carries out high-impact community-engaged scholarship by training and employing graduate students to conduct community-engaged research as a cocurricular activity. This study investigates the first 9 years of…

This chapter describes a faculty learning community formed at our university, in partnership with local Indigenous communities, as part of our response to Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action. We interviewed participants about their experiences in this group, including their challenges and transformations.

Many academic educators who hope to contribute to socially just community building recognize that working in partnerships with people and organizations outside the academy is important. Working within publicly funded universities and engaging in community-based work, however, require juggling responsibilities to multiple stakeholders. In this…

Public education systems are often large, diverse, fragmented, and historically very hard to change. While previous reforms targeted primarily school staff, large-scale policies now include a broader audience including non-system organizations (e.g., knowledge brokering organizations) that may influence directly or indirectly policy…

This paper examines the recent growth of experiential learning (EL) and the university-community (or so-called town-gown, TG) connections created as a result of this expansion. The research is framed by critical scholarship on the nature and role of the university and the place of liberal education specifically, as well as policy drivers aimed at…

Interest in older adult education (OAE) is intensifying for several reasons. The number of older adults in Canada is growing, increasing the proportion of older people in the population. Many older adults are now more active and want creative challenges, opportunities to learn, and chances to contribute to their community. In turn, cognitive and…

On the premise that performances and writing can be staged, and that no staging is ever innocent, we tell two unresolved, wonder-oriented phenomenological stories of Relaxed Performances (RP) that reveal 'affective trouble': the delivery of a 'cripped' fashion show at a university and a church-based 'relaxed' choir performance. We compose these…