In Summer 2022 the Office of the Provost named Dr. Melanie Hart as the Interim Vice Provost for Outreach and Engagement. Dr. Hart provides oversight for the Office of University Outreach and Engagement, TTU Press, the Museum of Texas Tech University, the National Ranching Heritage Center, the Creative Process Commons, the Texas Tech University Center at Junction (including the Outdoor Learning Center and the Llano River Field Station), as well as the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI).
During the summer, University Outreach and Engagement also welcomed Dr. Bryan Giemza as newFaculty Fellow for Outreach and Engaged Scholarship. Dr. Giemza is leading TTU's new Outreach and Engaged Scholarship Faculty Mentoring Network. He is an Associate Professor of Humanities and Literature in the Honors College, having joined the faculty in 2019. In addition to his teaching and research, he serves as a public scholar. Before coming to Texas Tech, Bryan was the Director of the Southern Historical Collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Texas Tech continues to strengthen its commitment to outreach and engaged scholarship combined with faculty and student success. Its newly launched Outreach and Engaged Scholarship Faculty Mentoring Network provides new opportunities for creativity and innovation and a growing wealth of resources to make them happen.
Whether you are new to engaged scholarship, contemplating a project, or a seasoned engaged scholar, we invite you to join the Network as a member and explore new ways of teaching and learning, discovery, and scholarship while building a community of like-minded scholars!
Visit our website for more information about the network and how to become a member!
On September 15th the TTU Outreach & Engaged Scholarship Faculty Mentoring Network convened for the first time. The Network's kick-off was held at the Texas Tech Club where Provost Hendrick and Interim Vice Provost for Outreach and Engagement Dr. Melanie Hart spoke on the importance of Engaged Scholarship at Texas Tech. The event marked the launch of the Network and the kick-off for several more network events throughout the semester.
Upcoming Network Events:
October 31, 2022 - 2:30 - 4:30pm @ The Mckenzie Merket Alumni Center
Variations in Engaged Scholarship: Creating, Defining, and Publishing your Community Engaged Work
This workshop will be held in room 151 of the TLPDC (TTU Library, 1st floor) on Tuesday, November 1st, from 8:30am - 11:30am (check-in begins at 8:00am, breakfast provided) as well as 1:30pm - 4:30pm (check-in begins at 1:00pm, afternoon snacks provided).Presenter: Dr. Diane Doberneck, Director for Faculty and Professional Development, Michigan State University
The workshop will explore definitions and disciplinary variations of community-engaged work. Time will be spent focusing on what makes publishing community-engaged scholarship different from publishing traditional scholarship and identifying foundational scholarship that guides our community work. Attendees will practice “unfurling” a single community engagement project into multiple scholarly public and academic products, and connect that unfurling strategy to long term career success as a community-engaged scholar.
Faculty, staff, and students may register either for the morning or the afternoon session. Refreshments will be served at both sessions. Both sessions will be available for virtual participation.
2022 Michigan State Summer Intensive on Community Engaged Scholarship - Recap!
Michigan State University's Office for University Outreach and Engagement hosted its fifth annual Summer Intensive on Community - Engaged Scholarship June 6-10, 2022. Several TTU staff and faculty members attended, exploring big picture issues related to community-engagement, service-learning, and community-engaged research. They participated in interactive workshops and discussions focused on creating conceptual frameworks and scholarly resources, mutually beneficial partnerships and collaborations, as well as strategies for publishing community-engaged scholarship.
TTU participants included: Sam Sumner, Director of University Outreach and Engagement; Sylvia Flores, Spanish Lecturer with Classical and Modern Languages and Literatures; Charelle Thomas, TLPDC Service Learning Coordinator, and Dr. Debbie Davis, Assistant Professor of Practice & Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Affairs at the College of Media and Communications.
For other opportunities including Intensives, visit the website.
What's New at TTU's College of Human Sciences?
Ann Mastergeorge Ph.D. named Senior Director for Engaged Scholarship!
Dr. Mastergeorge is a developmental psychologist and holds an endowed professorship at Texas Tech University in the department of Human Development and Family Studies. In January 2022, she began her role as the senior director for engaged scholarship initiatives at the Office of the Dean in the College of Human Sciences. She has developed an outreach and engagement website for the College, as well as outreach and engaged scholarship related activities and panel sessions for the College's faculty. Ann has also created an Outreach and Engagement Advisory Council as well as an engaged scholarship mini grants program for faculty and community collaborators including international collaborators. In addition, she is working with departments and centers to facilitate, highlight, and promote engaged scholarship activities and research endeavors.
College of Human Sciences launches Inaugural Engaged Scholarship Grant Program
Earlier this year, the College of Human Sciences (COHS) Dean's Office was pleased to announce the 2022 Engaged Scholarship Collaboration Seed Grant program. The funding opportunity recognizes COHS faculty and their collaborators for the design of a collaborative engaged scholarship project with a community partner. Examples of engaged scholarship project themes include community-based participatory research, applied research, needs assessments, and program evaluation.
The following four COHS faculty-led projects received grant funding in 2022: click to read full description of the projects
K-12 Sustainability Education: A Game-Based Online Learning Approach This community-engaged research aims to explore the level of awareness and knowledge of sustainability among K-12 teachers, and investigate the impacts of a sustainability intervention on their knowledge and behavioral intentions. Collaborators: Stacy Lee and Sungwon Shin (TTU):Janna Andrews (Texas Connections Academy of Houston ISD).
Family and Consumer Sciences Summer Teaching Camp Evaluation and Impact This research project aims to evaluate the impact of a summer Family & Consumer Sciences (FCS) teaching camp in increasing interest in becoming an FCS educator in a sample of underrepresented high school students. Collaborators: Cindy Miller, Karen Alexander, and Kyle Roberson (TTU); Elizabeth Murray-Seaman (Family & Consumer Sciences Teacher for Education & Training, Lubbock ISD).
TTU College of Education's Literacy Champions Program earns "Exemplary Project" designation by APLU's W.K. Kellogg/C. Peter Magrath Community Engagement Scholarship Awards
Established in 2006, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation Community Engagement Scholarship Awards and C. Peter Magrath Community Engagement Scholarship Award recognize four-year public universities that have made exemplary strides to become more closely and productively engaged with communities through their teaching/learning, discovery, and service activities. Texas Tech's Literacy Champions program led by Dr. Mellinee Lesley, Professor of Literacy at the College of Education, was recognized as an "Exemplary Project" at the Engagement Scholarship Consortium's 2022 Annual Conference in Athens, Georgia. Birgit Green, Assistant Vice-Provost for Outreach and Engagement at TTU, accepted the award on behalf of the entire project team.
Project Summary: In 2014, the Lubbock Independent School District (LISD) identified academic writing development of students as a critical need and asked Texas Tech's College of Education for help. Situated in a diverse and historically "underperforming" high school, the partnership entails a unique approach to school reform through professional development scholarship. The purpose has been to cultivate a writing program for 9th and 10th grade students that is sustainable, grounded in evidence-based pedagogy, and sensitive to the realities of meeting state achievement measures. Each year faculty, instructional coaches, and teachers co-create a research design, gather, and analyze data, and use findings to shape instruction. Now in its 5th year, the team has gained significant insights about meaningful professional development and instructional methods that close performance gaps for underserved student populations. The partnership has led to sustained growth in student writing and is serving as a model for closing the gaps in adolescents' writing.
Project Leader: Mellinee Lesley Ph.D., Professor, Language, Diversity, and Literacy Studies, TTU College of Education
University Outreach and Engaged Scholarship Exhibit @ TTU Croslin Room
The Texas Tech community is addressing community needs and societal issues through Engaged Teaching, Research, Creative Activity, and Service. Visit the University Outreach and Engaged Scholarship exhibit in the University Library to get a glimpse into the various engaged research activities and other engaged scholarship projects led by Texas Tech faculty, staff, and students in collaboration with community partners.
The UO&E exhibit will be on display in the Croslin Room in the Texas Tech University Library until December 1, 2022.
Calendar Year 2021 Raider's Engaged Assessment Results!
Each year, Texas Tech gathers data about its faculty and staff outreach and engagement activities. The results help the institution establish progress towards its strategic goal to "transform lives and communities through strategic outreach and engaged scholarship" (TTU Strategic Plan 2020-2025: A Foundation for the Next Century). The current report is the first gathering of data post TTU Covid-19 full reopening. This is also the first report where new Outreach, Engagement, and Engaged Scholarship reporting methods were used in Faculty Success. Faculty and staff were invited to submit information about any outreach and engagement projects and activities they conducted between January 1, 2021, and December 31,2021, either via the Raiders Engaged instrument or their Faculty Success accounts.
2021 Result Highlights During the 2021 assessment cycle, project submissions increased by 344% from 542 in 2020 to 2,408 projects for the current report year. A total of 680 Texas Tech faculty and staff members submitted information; however a total of 3,771 TTU Faculty and staff were involved in these projects/activities according to the respondents, the highest number coming from the College of Arts and Sciences (400), followed by the J.T. & Margaret Talkington College of Visual and Performing Arts (385), and the Davis College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources (327).
Projects and activities involved a total of 1,674 uniquecommunity partners including non-profit organizations, government agencies, business and industry, Pre-K-12 schools, other two - or four-year colleges, community organizations, civic groups, and others. Internally, projects involved 602 cross-disciplinary collaborations.
The three primary forms of engagement faculty and staff were involved in were: Engaged Research and Creative Activity (18.53%), Public Programs, Events, and Resources (17.82%), and Technical or Expert Assistance (11.70%). The following map highlights the number of projects impacting various regions in Texas.
Highlighting TTU's Outreach and Engagement Activities!
We invite TTU faculty and staff to submit their outreach and engagement activities for highlighting on the Engage at Tech Central Site. Simply complete the O&E Information Form to submit your information.
Engage at Tech Central is an online platform hosted by University Outreach and Engagement that features outreach and engagement resources, as well as engaged scholarship projects and opportunities provided by Texas Tech. It is available to the Texas Tech community as well as the general public. This year, the site has undergone several updates including re-organization of content, enhanced resources, and better functionality.
Those familiar with the site will be happy to know that all content is still accessible via content tiles or “storefronts” that link directly to existing departmental websites and information at Texas Tech. However, one noticeable update is the homepage, which now consists of five main content tiles. These include Public Outreach Programs and Community Events, which houses all of our K-12 programing, summer camps, and other public resources, Faculty and Staff Outreach and Engagement Projects, which houses Texas Tech’s outreach, engagement, and engaged scholarship projects, Community Partnerships, that includes information on and for our community partners including information on University Outreach and Engagement, and how to partner with the community, TTU Faculty and Staff Resources, and Student Engagement Projects and Resources.
Texas Tech faculty, staff and students can use the site to discover engaged research and academic outreach opportunities, and members of the community can easily locate, for instance, Texas Tech's K-12 programs, academic enrichment and lifelong learning opportunities for those seeking to further their education, or conferences, workshops and other events, as well as arts and cultural opportunities available to the general public through Texas Tech.
University Outreach and Engagement strengthens Texas Tech's ability to achieve excellence in Outreach and Engaged Scholarship by serving as a Catalyst, Collaborator, and Connector.
Contact Us: University Outreach and Engagement, Texas Tech University Drane Hall | 2515 15th Street Box 41047 | Lubbock, Texas 79409 universityoutreachandengagement@ttu.edu | 806.742.2392
