Many academic departments are making efforts to increase faculty and student community engagement as part of a movement to revitalize the civic function of higher education. A case study of the development of a public sociology program provides examples of steps that can be taken to involve educators and students in communities in multifaceted…

To assess the needs of residents in proximity to the Downtown Center of Bakersfield College (California), a stratified random sampling of addresses was chosen and adults at each address were interviewed. A total of 422 interviews were conducted by sociology students from the college and by paid student interviewers. Thirty-five percent of the…

University students participated in a research project on communities and conservation on Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. Students contributed by gathering data with various methods that will be compiled in a GIS. Living in three villages at different elevations on the mountain, students facilitated GPS mapping, a random survey of over 90…