Public Work and the Academy : An Academic Administrator's Guide to Civic Engagement and Service-Learning

Today’s institutions of higher education find themselves in a struggle to rediscover their roots in civic engagement, and embed such values in their students through intentional leadership, service-learning, and community connectedness. Public Work and the Academy provides academic leaders with a resource to increase their fluency with and ability to lead service-learning and civic engagement efforts on their campuses, with their peers, and throughout their institutions in order to shape the future of higher education. It is written specifically for chief academic officers, provosts, deans, and division and department chairs, who have significant responsibility for their campus's academic programs.

This book provides guidance on

• Using civic engagement to enhance the curriculum
• Examining the critical leadership role of the academic administrator
• Institutionalizing service-learning and civic engagement
• Using service-learning as means of advancing educational reform
• Faculty roles and rewards
• Employing service-learning to add depth to the education process

It illustrates a wide variety of topics through 11 case studies drawn from two- and four-year institutions across the United States, allowing readers to focus on the specific issues and types of institutions most applicable to them. In addition, this book includes a resources section that lists relevant publications, web sites, consultants, and networks.

Public Work and the Academy encourages both reflection and action on the part of academic leaders and their faculty and asks them to make service-learning and civic engagement part of their unique campus context.