On April 10, 2019, Texas Tech University hosted the 2019 Regional Engaged Scholarship Symposium, "The Future of Higher Education: Redesigning Teaching, Research, and Service to Remain Relevant." The symposium was held at the McKenzie-Merket Alumni Center at Texas Tech University in Lubbock.

An engaged institution is one that has redesigned its teaching, research/creative activity, and service to be responsive to diverse community needs and societal challenges, advance faculty scholarship, and enrich the student experience through mutually beneficial community partnerships. This symposium highlighted innovative strategies and practices that integrate community engagement into daily university practice while promoting teaching and learning, research, and scholarship. Concurrent Session topic areas included:

• Connecting teaching, research/creative activity, or service with community needs or complex societal challenges.
• Integrating student engagement into the curriculum to enhance learning and success.
• Building and sustaining effective partnerships with different types of communities.
• Identifying and documenting the impacts of engagement on communities.
• Capitalizing on engagement with communities to advance faculty scholarship (publications, presentations, etc.), academic rewards, or external funding opportunities
• Assessing student learning outcomes from engaged teaching, research, or service activities.

Featured in the symposium was special-guest speaker, Dr. KerryAnn O'Meara, Professor of Higher Education and Director of the ADVANCE Program at the University of Maryland. Dr. O'Meara is a national expert on faculty careers, academic reward systems, and change strategies. She presented on "Equity-Minded Reform in Academic Reward Systems" and lead a discussion on how to incorporate engaged scholarship into faculty promotion and tenure policies and practices.