University of Tennessee / October 10, 2018
University of Tennessee in Knoxville hosted a two-day engagement and outreach conference October 8 and 9 at the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy, bringing together more than 150 faculty, staff, and community partners to discuss collaborations between higher education institutions and their larger communities.
The Office of Community Engagement and Outreach, Office of Research and Engagement, the Office of Diversity and Community Relations in the Haslam College of Business, and University-Assisted Community Schools in the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences partnered to host the conference, Building University-Community Relationships: More Than One and Done.
The conference was meant to foster collaboration between UT and its community partners, with speakers highlighting potential issues institutions face when engaging communities and sharing successful examples of national solutions and partnerships. Representatives of UT’s 11 academic colleges were in attendance as well as a variety of community partners including United Way of Greater Knoxville, Centro Hispano de East Tennessee, the Boys and Girls Club, Big Brothers Big Sisters of East Tennessee, and the YMCA.
“We have a lot of scholars on campus who incorporate community engagement into their research and scholarly efforts, which is why it is important to have a mechanism for them to discuss these types of projects,” said Javiette Samuel, UT’s director of community engagement and outreach. “It also helps to ensure that we are implementing best practices when working with our community partners. The goal is to create a dialogue wherein new ideas are spurred, and we wanted to build that opportunity into this conference.”
The day began with an opening keynote address from Darlene Kamine, executive director of the Community Learning Center Institute in Cincinnati, Ohio, and closed with Gavin Luter, director of UniverCity Alliance at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Both emphasized the importance of community engagement, the types of impact a successful outreach campaign can have, and the potential of these collaborations to enact change both in a local community and on a national stage.