SGSI 2024: Research with Impact: Developing Skills as a Community-Engaged Scholar
Monday, Sept. 9 – Friday, Sept. 13, 9 AM – 2 PM
In recent years, there have been increasing calls both within and beyond academia for universities to accelerate solutions to the world’s most pressing problems. This purpose also drives the interests of many graduate students. Join us to learn from leading scholars about different approaches to community-engaged scholarship and how you can develop a research agenda that addresses the priorities and needs of the broader community. Each session will involve scholars from across campus, and by the end of the week, participants will draft a brief research memo to guide their next steps.
Instructors
- Clayton A. Hurd, PhD, director of community-engaged research, Haas Center for Public Service
- Joanne Tien, PhD, director of RAISE Doctoral Fellowship Program, Office of the Vice Provost for Graduate Education
Audience & Capacity
Open to all graduate students in any discipline*, as well as postdoctoral scholars, if space allows. Space is limited to 25.
*MSx Class of 2025 and first-year MBA students are ineligible to participate due to mandatory program requirements.
Objectives
By participating fully in this course, you will learn to:
- Articulate the principles of public and community-engaged scholarship.
- Understand differences between deficit and asset-based approaches to scholarship and community engagement work.
- Identify the ethical and political tensions in community-engaged research and campus-community partnerships.
- Articulate how you will incorporate elements of community-engaged scholarship in your own research.
- Define and select relevant community issues to be addressed through research.
- Disseminate research results in ways that enhance community power, advance community development, and/or influence policy.
- Develop and sustain effective strategies to collaborate effectively and equitably with community partners.
- Develop an understanding of the different centers and resources on campus to support community-engaged scholarship.
- Identify different disciplinary approaches to community-engaged scholarship.
- Learn from and network with engaged graduate student peers, Stanford faculty and professional staff, and community partners.
Summary
Stanford’s vision calls on the university to pursue research and creative activity that accelerates solutions to the world’s most pressing problems and there are many efforts on campus that engage graduate students in carrying out this kind of problem-focused scholarship. Join us to learn from leading scholars about different approaches to community-engaged scholarship and how you can develop a research agenda that addresses the priorities and needs of the broader community.
The Carnegie Foundation defines community engagement as “the collaboration between institutions of higher education and their larger community for the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources in a context of partnership and reciprocity.” A number of research efforts at Stanford carry out community-engaged scholarship on issues including climate change, public health, poverty, implicit bias, policing, and incarceration, among many others. The goal of this course is to expose graduate students to the various forms of community engaged scholarship and how you can integrate these approaches into your own research efforts. Each session will involve scholars from across campus, and by the end of the week, participants will draft a brief research memo to guide their next steps. Partners include the Law School’s Policy Lab, the Haas Center for Public Service, the GSE’s Research-Practice Partnership program, Stanford Impact Labs, and the Office of Community Engagement in the School of Medicine, and representatives of local community-based organizations, among others.
Students will learn about the foundations of community-engaged research and develop skills for putting it into practice. This involves forming a successful community partnership, co-designing research questions and methods, collaborative data analysis and publication, the ethics of engagement, and leveraging different types of scholarly products to influence policy and strengthen communities. The course will also provide opportunities for students to network with each other, as well as with speakers, in order to build a larger community of engaged scholars on campus.
Additional Course Expectations
- In addition to the daily sessions, students should expect 1-2 hours of work per day outside of class, such as reading an article or drafting their research memo.
- Full attendance is expected.
SUNet ID required to log in; all SGSI correspondence sent to your Stanford email account.