Engagement Council

Making Community Engagement Count: Promotion and Tenure Lessons From Recently Promoted Scholars

October 28, 2026

11:00-Noon (CT) | Webinar Registration

Navigating promotion and tenure expectations can sometimes feel daunting for community-engaged scholars. In this webinar, recently promoted or tenured faculty will share practical insights from their own journeys, including strategies for documenting community-engaged scholarship, demonstrating impact, building a strong promotion dossier, and balancing institutional expectations with authentic community partnerships. Participants will gain firsthand advice, lessons learned, and actionable tips for making community-engaged work visible, valued, and successful throughout the promotion and tenure process.

• Kelly Hirko, Associate Professor, Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Michigan State University
• Jason Reece, Vice Provost for Community Engaged Scholarship, Ohio State University
• Noreen Rodriguez, Associate Professor, Teacher Education, Michigan State University

The Engagement Scholarship Consortium is a nonprofit association of higher education institutions committed to advancing university–community partnerships through engaged scholarship, and as a member institution, K-State benefits from its collaborative network and shared opportunities.

Beyond Partnership Development

October 28, 2026

K-State College of Health and Human Sciences Seminar Series

Seminar: 3:30-4:30 p.m. | Meet & Greet: 4:30-5:00 p.m.
Justin 163

Beyond Partnership Development: Leveraging community engagement and implementation science for sustainable interventions

About the talk...

Explore how community engagement and implementation science can help translate evidence-based health programs into sustainable practice. The speakers will discuss working with community partners to support program implementation, adaptation, and long-term sustainability.

Presenters: Samantha M. Harden, PhD, 500 RYT & Anna M. Gorczyca, PhD

Wildcat Scholar Training: Hands-on training workshops

November 9, 2026

Get help with your public profile.

These training sessions are hands-on to help faculty and staff ensure your work is accurately represented. Sessions are open to everyone and all levels. Bring your laptop.

• 9 to 10 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 9, Staley School of Leadership, Room 201

Sessions will not be recorded.

All workshops can also be attended via Zoom.
Please use meeting ID 939 9074 0826 and passcode 217105 at ksu.zoom.us/join.

Ethics, Equity, and Responsible AI Use in Community Engagement

November 10, 2026

8:30–9:30 a.m. (CT) | Webinar Registration

In this webinar, community engagement researchers will discuss their innovative approaches to responsibly integrating AI tools with their scholarship while maintaining rigorous ethical standards, transparency, and accountability to community partners.

• Becca Berkey, Senior Director, Integrative Engagement and Global Impact, Northeastern University
• Drew Pearl, Assistant Professor, Leadership and Community-Engaged Learning, Kansas State University
• Elaine Ward, Professor, Education and Social Policy, Merrimack College

The Engagement Scholarship Consortium is a nonprofit association of higher education institutions committed to advancing university–community partnerships through engaged scholarship, and as a member institution, K-State benefits from its collaborative network and shared opportunities.

Strengthening Engagement Through Philanthropy and Strategic Partnerships

November 16, 2026

11:00-Noon | K-State Student Union, 206
Register

Join us for an interactive discussion exploring the role of the KSU Foundation in advancing Kansas State University's mission and strategic priorities. Participants will gain valuable insight into how philanthropic partnerships can support research, strengthen community engagement, foster collaboration, and expand the university's impact across Kansas and beyond.

This session will highlight best practices, opportunities for strategic partnerships, and ways we can leverage philanthropic resources and relationships to advance K-State's Next-Gen initiatives and strengthen connections with communities and external stakeholders.

Presenter: Rebecca Lester, Director of Foundation Relations, KSU Foundation

Success Strategies for Unpacking Your Community Engagement Work Into Multiple Scholarly Pieces

December 11, 2026

11:00-Noon (CT) | Webinar Registration

Do you have a great service-learning, outreach teaching, community-engaged research, or Extension project and are unsure how to write it up for a peer-reviewed publication? Are you interested in branching out into interdisciplinary community engagement journals? Then this interactive webinar is for you.

Diane Doberneck will focus on what makes publishing community-engaged work different than publishing traditional scholarship, how to incorporate community partner voices, how to unpack a robust project into multiple scholarly pieces, and how to achieve article “fit” with specific journals. She will share additional ideas on how to disseminate your community-engaged scholarship at community engagement-friendly conferences. She will also review several practical writing tools and where to access more writing resources and support. Come away from this webinar with next steps for advancing your writing and publishing success.

• Diane Doberneck, Director for Faculty and Professional Development, Office for Public Engagement and Scholarship, Michigan State University

The Engagement Scholarship Consortium is a nonprofit association of higher education institutions committed to advancing university–community partnerships through engaged scholarship, and as a member institution, K-State benefits from its collaborative network and shared opportunities.

Promotion and Tenure Discussions

December 2026

Stay tuned for additional details!

Government Relations

January 22, 2027

Explore how government relations shape the policy environment influencing university research, funding, and partnerships. Gain insight into state and federal legislative priorities, advocacy efforts, emerging policy developments, and opportunities for K-State engagement.

Presenter: Matt Casey, Executive Director of Government Relations

Navigating Tensions Between Personal and Institutional Goals in Community-Engaged Scholarship

January 25, 2027

11:00-Noon (CT) | Webinar Registration

 

Community-engaged scholars often pursue their work with commitments to relationship building, responsiveness to community priorities, reciprocity, and meaningful community impact. At the same time, universities operate within systems that emphasize individual initiative, productivity, efficiency, and metrics that reflect institutional prestige. While these goals may occasionally align, they can also create tensions that require difficult choices and ongoing negotiation. This panel will explore the challenges that arise when personal values, community priorities, and institutional expectations do not fully align. Panelists will share their experiences balancing relationship-centered engagement with academic demands, navigating competing definitions of success, and making decisions when commitments to communities conflict with institutional pressures. Participants will gain insight into strategies for approaching these tensions thoughtfully while remaining grounded in their values and goals.

• Jennifer Carrera, Associate Professor, Sociology, Michigan State University
• Fatima Espinosa Vásquez, Associate Professor, Information Science, University of Kentucky
• Yingying Han, Assistant Professor, Information Sciences, University of Tennessee – Knoxville

The Engagement Scholarship Consortium is a nonprofit association of higher education institutions committed to advancing university–community partnerships through engaged scholarship, and as a member institution, K-State benefits from its collaborative network and shared opportunities.

From Co-Design to Delivery: Building Transformative (and Replicable!) CEL Courses

February 16, 2027

11:00-Noon (CT) | Webinar Registration

Community-engaged learning (CEL) has the power to redefine the college classroom, but how do we build courses that deliver authentic community value while remaining manageable for faculty? Join Susi Keefe and Mellinee Lesley for a practical, pedagogy-focused webinar on turning course-embedded projects into sustainable learning experiences. Drawing from community-based course models, this session walks participants through the lifecycle of an engaged course—from initial partner co-design, student preparation, assessment for student learning and community impact, and final delivery. You will gain adaptable templates, scaffolding strategies, and key takeaways to design CEL courses that are transformative, reciprocal, and easily repeatable.

• Susi Keefe, Associate Director, Community-Engaged Scholarship, University of Minnesota
• Mellinee Lesley, Professor, Curriculum and Instruction, Texas Tech University

The Engagement Scholarship Consortium is a nonprofit association of higher education institutions committed to advancing university–community partnerships through engaged scholarship, and as a member institution, K-State benefits from its collaborative network and shared opportunities.

Developing, Sustaining, and Evaluating Community-Academic Partnerships

March 4, 2027

11:00-Noon (CT) | Webinar Registration

Successful community-academic partnerships are built on trust, shared goals, and meaningful collaboration. This webinar will explore practical strategies for developing equitable partnerships, sustaining engagement over time, and assessing and improving partnership processes and outcomes. Participants will learn evidence-informed approaches to fostering mutual benefit, strengthening communication and governance, and using evaluation tools to measure partnership health, impact, and continuous improvement.

• Becca Berkey, Senior Director, Integrative Engagement and Global Impact, Northeastern University
• Rebecca Riccio, Juffali Family Director, Social Impact Lab, Northeastern University

The Engagement Scholarship Consortium is a nonprofit association of higher education institutions committed to advancing university–community partnerships through engaged scholarship, and as a member institution, K-State benefits from its collaborative network and shared opportunities.

Promotion and Tenure National Strategies

March 2027

Stay tuned for additional details!

Celebrating Impact

April 2027

Celebrating outstanding community-engaged research and partnerships from across K-State.

Stay tuned for additional details!