Focus on Faculty: A Missing Link in Community–University Partnerships

ABSTRACT

Inherent in the call for this special issue is the idea that Community–University Partnerships (CUPs) matter. In the phrase “community–university partnership,” it is just two entities who are forefronted and assumed to be the primary agents and beneficiaries. Conspicuously absent, however, is recognition of the essential contributions and accompanying career implications for professors who engage Community–University Partnerships (CUPs) as a substantive aspect of their scholarly activities. For many scholars in higher education, their role as consultants bridging the academy and the community is wholly undervalued, and not by the community but by the academy. In this paper, we critically review existing literature about the university professor whose work of envisioning, initiating, developing, and maintaining Community-University Partnerships (CUPs) makes them possible. In particular, we focus on faculty members at traditional research institutions whose merit within the university is determined almost exclusively by their traditional scholarly productivity (i.e., journal publications) and can be diminished by their very engagement in the community. We offer insights into how and why community circumstances and institutional expectations are consequential.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jennifer Ng

Jennifer Ng is a Professor in the department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, as well as the Interim Vice Provost for the Office of Diversity and Equity at the University of Kansas. Her interests include the social contexts within which educators work, especially as race, culture, class, and other forms of difference are significant features.

Rebecca S. Martinez

Rebecca S. Martinez is an Associate Professor in the Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology, Counseling Psychology Program. She is also a practicing psychologist specializing in issues that affect women, first generation college students, and people of color.

Sylvia Martinez

Sylvia Martinez is an Associate Professor in the department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, and the Latino Studies Program at Indiana University-Bloomington. Her research focuses on the high school to college transition among Latinx youth and how Latinx ethnic identity among undergraduates impacts participation at campus cultural centers.