{"id":1220,"date":"2023-05-26T23:35:48","date_gmt":"2023-05-26T23:35:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/joint-educational-project\/?p=1220"},"modified":"2025-09-04T18:28:45","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T18:28:45","slug":"engaged-graduate-education-and-the-research-university","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/joint-educational-project\/2023\/05\/26\/engaged-graduate-education-and-the-research-university\/","title":{"rendered":"Engaged Graduate Education and the Research University"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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\n\n \n Originally Published December 7, 2018\n\n\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
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Engaged Graduate Education and the Research University<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n By<\/span>Samantha Bernstein-Sierra<\/strong>\n \n May 26, 2023<\/span>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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The impacts of service-learning and community engagement (SLCE) on undergraduate students are well-documented, but far less attention has been paid to graduate students.\u00a0 Relatively few graduate programs in the U.S. offer structured opportunities for local community engagement (research\/service), guided critical reflection or training in service-learning pedagogy or practice.<\/p>\n

“many students experience the transition to graduate study as a withdrawal from public and community service that was a vital part of their undergraduate years”<\/strong>\u00a0(Stanton & Wagner, 2010, p. 412).<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Beginning in 2016, we embarked on a self-contained research and learning project to explore whether graduate-level SLCE opportunities are available at USC, and what they might look like at other universities. To answer these questions, we evaluated existing graduate programs in the U.S. and surveyed USC graduate students from various disciplinary backgrounds (followed by select interviews) to determine access to and interest in SLCE opportunities.<\/p>\n

In January of 2018, we recruited 15 USC graduate students with experience and interest in SLCE to participate in a semester-long interdisciplinary learning community: \u201cEngaged Graduate Education.\u201d Student disciplines ranged from neuroscience to comparative literature, international relations, and curatorial studies, among others. Through readings, assignments, and independent research, students developed projects and action plans for implementing SLCE based on the unique needs and constraints of their departments. Our monthly meetings provided a forum for discussion of readings, projects, and experiences, with occasional guest speakers. Meeting discussions were documented and analyzed along with students\u2019 final projects in order to develop a plan for graduate SLCE that could provide value to a wide range of students.<\/p>\n

Despite the drastically different cultures of departments represented, students\u2019 recommendations were surprisingly similar. Two broad strategic approaches encompass many of the students\u2019 recommendations for moving forward with SLCE:\u00a0use of existing structures<\/i><\/strong>\u00a0<\/i>and\u00a0professionalization requirements<\/i><\/strong>. By \u201cuse of existing structures,\u201d we mean building upon, leveraging, employing, or linking to programs, courses, degree requirements, or partnerships that are already established and operational. For example, several students found fitting homes for SLCE courses within existing academic programs, while others sought to use existing university partnerships with non-profit organizations and programs (like JEP) to engage graduate students in community-based research. We suspect this approach was so prevalent because it is cost-effective and requires minimal effort and disruption.<\/p>\n

Our students also found that professionalization requirements would make compelling homes for SLCE training and skills development. \u201dProfessionalization\u201d or \u201cprofessional development\u201d requirements are often built into graduate programs to improve students\u2019 job search and placement outcomes. Though these requirements can take many forms depending on discipline and department, their stated goals are largely the same (e.g. learning how to write a cover letter, prepare for a job interview, and develop a research agenda). For example, in one student\u2019s humanities department, a 12-week long professionalization course is required to graduate. The course is comprised of four three-week long \u201cmodules\u201d focusing on different areas of professionalization. For her final project, that student developed a syllabus for an \u201cEngaged Scholarship Module\u201d to fill one of these three-week blocks, containing readings, assignments, and weekly goals meant to expand students\u2019 knowledge of engaged pedagogy and participatory research in the context of that discipline. Unlike disciplinary knowledge-based courses, many professional development requirements do not demand any specialized expertise\u2013 they can be taught or supervised by non-tenure track faculty, graduate students, or teachers from a different field.\u00a0 Because one of the defining features of SLCE is its experiential nature, students engaged in it benefit from practical training to supplement their disciplinary work.<\/p>\n

Though our graduate initiative was intended to be a self-contained learning project, the EGE shows promise for larger program development opportunities. To date, we have presented our findings at two national conferences with two more planned for 2019. Armed with knowledge of the need for graduate SLCE opportunities at USC, plans are now in the works to apply what we have learned to our own university context and begin to create those opportunities (See\u00a0MJCSL Special Section on Graduate Education<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":93,"featured_media":1221,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,8],"tags":[20,13],"class_list":["post-1220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive","category-jep-blog","tag-20","tag-archive"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nEngaged Graduate Education and the Research University<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/joint-educational-project\/2023\/05\/26\/engaged-graduate-education-and-the-research-university\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Engaged Graduate Education and the Research University - 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