FACULTY 

About three dozen faculty have helped or continue to help build reciprocal relationships between the University and west Salt Lake neighborhoods. Almost every department (academic and non) on campus is involved in UNP partnership work.  

What is UNP’s role when faculty want to become a partner?: UNP acts as a convener who can introduce university and community members to each other, and make connections among researchers to facilitate broader and deeper research projects.

When faculty have research projects in mind that might involve west Salt Lake neighborhoods, they can call UNP for advice on initial connections and introductions. Small amounts of funding may also be available to help start certain projects. UNP also has a range of ongoing committees and projects; university members may want to become involved in these to become familiar with the community as an aid to understanding community research priorities. Faculty also have the opportunity to meet other faculty with complementary research interests, thus bridging across disciplines.

In addition, the brochure, Guidelines for Community Based Research, was produced this year by a community–research collaborative focus group led by Dr. Barbara Brown, family and consumer studies, to help outline the protocols, models, and principles that create effective and reciprocally beneficial community-based research for U of U faculty and administrators. They also compiled a report titled, Facilitating Mutually Beneficial Community-Based Research.

What kinds of partnership are UNP faculty partners collaborating on?: There are 13 current UNP partnerships and then 9 additional partnerships at Hartland. Faculty from the college of education, Continuing Education, and LEAP have developed partnerships that address the educational pipeline issues for first generation college students. Faculty from the English department partner to offer a lending library and weekly literacy activities to west Salt Lake elementary students. Faculty from the department of family and consumer studies partner to train parents as advocates for their children’s educational success. Faculty in political science and communication partnered with west Salt Lake community councils to increase civic participation and with west Salt Lake residents to develop community leadership skills. Faculty from the department of linguistics work to offer English-Language-Learning classes. Faculty from the college of social work assist in the youth programming and the walk-in referral and information at the Hartland Partnership Center. Faculty in the department of the family and consumer studies partner to develop curriculum for financial literacy  classes as well as youth leadership classes. Other faculty from this department guide early childcare students enrolled in their classes who teach and help to develop the curriculum for the Hartland head Start classes. Faculty from the college of nursing and the department of preventative medicine work with Hartland residents with refugee status to develop ways to improve health literacy among patients and to develop skills to treat patients. Faculty from the department of occupational therapy develop ways to provide life skills to Hartland residents, such as learning to drive, learning to navigate the bus system, learning to use a computer, and learning how to seek employment.

What kind of research have UNP faculty partners produced?:

Three dissertations or master’s theses have been produced by UNP partners, with an other four dissertations in progress. Five journal articles have published or accepted for publication. Faculty and students have facilitated nine conference presentations. Twelve research reports have been issued.

• This year’s products include an article by Dr. Maged Senbel, architecture, who wrote about the “incredible potential of youth to become players and leaders in creating and implementing visions for the cities we all inhabit” as a result of his Westside Studio course. It was published in Children, Youth, and Environments. A faculty member of family and consumer studies, Dr. Caitlin Cahill has an article pending publication in ACME: An International E-Journal for Critical Geographies about participatory action research methodology as a relational praxis of social change. Her community class, Growing Up in Salt Lake City, is held in the UNP offices. College of Education faculty Dr. Dolores Delgago Bernal and Dr. Enrique Alemán, Jr., and Educational, Culture and Society Ph.D. student Judith Flores co-authored an article using data collected from their school/university/community educational partnership. By presenting participant narratives and drawing upon cultural citizenship scholarship and Chicana feminist theory, the authors re-frame the traditional definitions of “citizen” and call for employing a Latina/o cultural citizenship concept when working with constituents who struggle for rights in an increasingly anti-immigrant political context.

How have UNP faculty partners integrated the partnership into their teaching?:

• Five courses affiliated with UNP partnerships have been developed by University faculty. This spring was the third time the political science class, Neighborhood Democracy, was offered. It is a course designed to provide students with the opportunity to study issues of grassroots democracy through a service-learning course where the students partner with the Rose Park Community Council to organize the annual Rose Park Community Festival. A graduate seminar held off-campus for the third time this spring in the Westside Studio engages students to design a revitalization and redevelopment plan for west Salt Lake neighborhoods that are shaped by resident and community leaders contributions. Faculty who have students placed at the UNP Harland Partnership Center teach an interdisciplinary cluster seminar addressing social, cultural, political and economic issues from a variety of different disciplinary perspectives. Both students and Hartland residents, and faculty attend this class. Narratives compiled by Hartland residents make up part of the text used in this course (see page #). The partnership at West High School initiated a section of the service learning class LEAP 1300, which has enrolled 30 to 35 students each year to serve as peer advisors for the counterparts at West High School. This fall, an ethnic studies service learning course is being co-taught by the principle investigators of the Adelante partnership, who conceptualized the class as a way to help the institution think differently about communities of color, as well as partner more concretely with the Adelante mentors  by helping them develop a critical consciousness of the inequities inherent in the K-12 school system for students of color.

• A total of 12 faculty from the U have been involved in developing locally-based curriculum for two of UNP’s leadership partnerships. Four family and consumer faculty and one social work faculty developed a new model to train west Salt lake parents as Community Advocates this spring. They also served as instructors for the 4-week course. Seven faculty—two from social work, two from political science, two from the Center for Public Policy and Administration center, and one from communication—all collaborated to design a specifically tailored curriculum that teaches residents how to become civically engaged in Salt Lake City’s neighborhood and municipal governments. Isn’t there also curriculumn to come out of linguistics at hartland? 

What is a UNP Community Scholar in Residence?:

• University Neighborhood Partners’ Community Scholar in Residence (CSIR) award serves as a catalyst for University of Utah faculty involved in public scholarship to integrate research, teaching, and engagement through UNP campus-community partnerships. In addition, it enables the University of Utah to better respond to west side, community-identified issues, while increasing the visibility of faculty members engaged in community  partnerships, and providing greater voice to historically underrepresented neighborhoods. 

Community Scholars in Residence spend a year engaging in scholarship that serves one of UNP’s three target areas: youth education and success, community leadership and resident empowerment, and capacity-building in health, housing, safety, environment, and employment. Faculty are awarded an honorarium to assist with supporting their time and scholarship either through a full or partial course buy-out from their regular teaching load, or to compensate for specific costs incurred during the project. Tangible outcomes of CSIR projects include teaching community seminars, developing publishable reports, or designing program evaluations. All CSIR provide UNP with a written report of the work undertaken during the year that will indicate the links between research, teaching, and community engagement.

Five faculty have served as Community Scholars in Residence for UNP. They include: Dr. Doris Watson (2003-04), exercise and sports science, who facilitated the University of Utah as a year-round National Youth Sports Program site serving children from west Salt Lake neighborhoods; Dr. Luke Garrott (2004-05), political science, who established a new political science course entitled Neighborhood Democracy; Dr. Maged Senbel (2005-06), architecture and urban planning, who developed a course on community redevelopment held in the west Salt Lake neighborhood it studies; Dr. Barbara Brown (2007), family and consumer studies, who spent the early part of 2007 investigating the types of protocols, models, and principles that create effective and reciprocally beneficial community-based research; and Dr. Dolores Delgado Bernal, education, culture and society, who is currently developing the community-based research trajectory and the infrastructure of the Adelante partnership, a nationally recognized initiative to increase access to higher education for elementary-school aged children.

Dr. Doris Watson, 2003-2004: Information forthcoming.  

Dr. Maged Senbel, 2005-2006: While a faculty member in architecture and urban planning, Senbel developed and taught a graduate-level course on community redevelopment and revitalization called the Westside Studio, which was housed and taught in west Salt Lake. Working in collaboration with residents, students enrolled in this course have presented redevelopment designs of the North Temple corridor to Salt Lake City Council, Planning Department, and the Chamber of Commerce. The College of Architecture and Planning is expanding it’s potential for involvement by creating the Metropolitan Research Institute and a new Department of Urban Planning.

“Working with UNP has allowed me to align my research and teaching in ways that have direct resonance outside of academic settings. I feel greater satisfaction knowing that my students are working with Westside community residents to collaboratively envision better neighborhoods. I have also found ways to marry my research and teaching interests in community development and neighborhood planning. Community residents benefit from having students help them articulate their ideas and integrate them into conventional planning processes. UNP has helped us reach community residents and consistently connected me with wonderful individuals doing inspiring work on the westside. “

Dr. Luke Garrott, 2004-2005: Garrott established a partnership and service-learning course called Neighborhood Democracy, which connects the students in this course with a west Salt Lake community council. He taught this course for the third time in spring of 2007. Over the past three years, students have conducted research projects on community council participation and helped create and facilitate the Rose Park Community Festival, among other projects.

“There may be something inherently virtuous about studying the history of political thought, and knowing, say, Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s vision for the social contract, or John Rawls’ two principles of justice. I can offer them traditional class readings, lectures and discussions, which crucially inform the students in their individual journeys. But for the knowledge to be real, it would have to be largely experiential. Linking past knowledge with new class experiences creates what all educators would love to facilitate:  reflective experiential knowledge. Activist teaching is not about indoctrinating students to “become engaged”; rather, it is about leading a discovery process for an authentic citizenship in each student. And thus my purpose: to teach of the concepts of political science through reflective interaction with the world outside the university classroom.”

Dr. Barbara Brown, Spring & Summer 2007: Brown spent two semesters investigating the types of protocols, models, and principles that create effective and reciprocally beneficial community-based research. She facilitated discussions with individuals conducting community based research projects, and produced a report and faculty guidelines that defines community based research for the University of Utah, recommends resources that provide reciprocal goals for all partners, and suggests mechanisms that might encourage more community based research.       

“The University of Utah is in an enviable situation. For a long time, universities have been seen as isolated institutions on a hill. But here, we have a first rate research university very conveniently located near a neighborhood that has put out the welcome mat for research on community needs. This is an opportunity to figure out how to continue the good work done in the past to connect the University with the community,” Brown said. She added that this type of engagement validates the knowledge, perspectives, and values from multiple perspectives that lead to a research agenda and methodologies that have the potential of improving the life of those very communities, while strengthening the research and teaching of University faculty.

Dr. Dolores Delgado Bernal, 2007-2008: “By helping to develop an Adelante infrastructure for community based research, I plan to collaboratively explore and write about those practices that produce outcomes for students and/or their families and disseminate new knowledge through academic and community venues. Three research strands will guide this work. First, this research seeks to understand how the cultural wealth and assets brought into the school setting by Latina/o students and families, as well as first-generation college student mentors, can contribute to academic success. We will attempt to understand the process and challenges of institutionalizing a school/community/university partnership. Lastly, the research will examine how the wider school climate and culture influences student success and attempts to gauge how the partnership might influence a transformation of the school culture.”

What do UNP faculty partners say about their partnership work?:

• George Cheney, Professor Communication
  Synopsis of research / partnership. The Glendale partnership project began in 2003 as a study of the reasons for limited participation in the community council but expanded to consider the range of types of public participation by residents and how we could address the barriers to that participation. The study involved a series of meetings with community council members and other interested residents.  It developed into systematic focus-group interviews with representative groups of Glendale residents.  Through the project, we learned a great deal about Glendale citizens' perspectives on their community, its relationship to the larger salt lake valley, and the ways in which the participants in the study engage the community to make it better. Several community projects have been inspired by the results of this research.
  How did doing research in the community affect the research? The project was inspired by community needs.  Our questions were guided by residents' concerns.  We brought relevant research on community participation to bear on the project, but our ultimate goal was to identify barriers to participation and to offer some practical suggestions that fit the problems identified by the people.
  What challenges did the partnership face? We faced challenges in making sure that our contacts were fairly representative of all the diverse groups in Glendale.  Also, those of us who met regularly, including the community members, wrestled with issues of our own time commitments.  Finally, we had to consider carefully what practical suggestions would both fit the community and be feasible to pursue.
  What are some of the applications / implications from the research / partnership (to other communities outside of Salt Lake, to the discipline, to theory, to addressing social problems, etc.)?  The research on participation is important on levels ranging from neighborhood to city to region to nation to the globe.  If we are to have a truly vibrant democracy, people need not only to be voting (which is a big issue in itself) but also contributing their voices to discussions of issues that affect them and others.  The breakdown of social bonds in our fast-paced, insecure, pressure-ridden society is a threat to any meaningful practice of democracy.
  What new questions were raised by your study or partnership that other researchers can follow up on? One of the most important issues to emerge from the study was the role the extent of economic pressures on families and individuals and how this limits neighborhood and community participation. For example, we found that many individuals were working two or three jobs.  And, in households with two adults, it wasn't uncommon to find three or more jobs being pursued.  This means less time with kids, neighbors, and in the public sphere. In short, sheer busyness leads to a retreat from public life.  
• Mary D. Burbank, Professor Education
  Synopsis of partnership. Dr. Burbank partnered to develop a parent resource center and network that empowers trains parents in northwest Salt Lake City how to advocate for their children’s educational success by connecting neighborhood families, schools, community resources, and the University of Utah. She helped to design and facilitate training that was offered in a series of workshops that equipped families with the tools and skills necessary for navigating the public educational system. The goal was that these advocates would pass the information along to other parents.
  How did doing research in the community affect the research? Participants provided extremely positive feedback on the type of information to include in the sessions that helped to shape subsequent workshops. Parents shared that the workshop information was very valuable and that they plan to share the information with other parents, neighbors, family members, and friends, indicating a larger ripple effect within the community. Parents’ suggestions on how to improve the workshops included incorporating more intervention strategies with regard to behavioral problems or gang issues. They also suggested including teacher speakers so that parent advocates could learn from the experiences of educators. The perspectives of educators were recommended as mechanisms for helping families learn as much as possible from teachers. Workshop presentations on strategies for self-care and self-improvement practices within their own education or career goals were also highlighted positively. Participants also cited their newfound knowledge regarding their rights as parents as particularly useful.
  What challenges did the partnership face? While the primary goals of the first years were to develop and implement a  workshop series, long-term goals are focused on the development of sustained frameworks designed to encourage participants to share their newfound knowledge with members of the community. The training sessions are currently being revamped in order to be based on a sustainable partnership model.
  What new questions were raised by your study or partnership that other researchers can follow up on? 2. The second phase for extending the impact of the work series is to provide these newly trained advocates with opportunities to work within the Salt Lake City School District.
• Maged Senbel, Architecture and Urban planning
  Synopsis of partnership. While a faculty member in architecture and urban planning, Senbel developed and taught a graduate-level course on community redevelopment and revitalization called the Westside Studio, which was housed and taught in west Salt Lake. Working in collaboration with residents, students enrolled in this course have presented redevelopment designs of the North Temple corridor to Salt Lake City Council, Planning Department, and the Chamber of Commerce. The College of Architecture and Planning is expanding it’s potential for involvement by creating the Metropolitan Research Institute and a new Department of Urban Planning.
  How did doing research in the community affect the research? I feel greater satisfaction knowing that my students are working with Westside community residents to collaboratively envision better neighborhoods.  I have also found ways to marry my research and teaching interests in community development and neighborhood planning.  Community residents benefit from having students help them articulate their ideas and integrate them into conventional planning processes. UNP has been absolutely essential in our ability to meet our goals.  They have helped us reach community residents and are consistently connecting me with wonderful individuals doing inspiring work on the Westside.  They have also helped create a structure of advisory support for all our efforts.
  What challenges did the partnership face?  I think the biggest challenge is reaching the full range of diverse communities that make the westside of Salt Lake City their home.  These communities are difficult to reach because of language and cultural differences and it takes tremendous resources to be able to build relationships of trust and mutual interest with the various communities on the Westside.
  What are some of the applications / implications from the research / partnership (to other communities outside of Salt Lake, to the discipline, to theory, to addressing social problems, etc.)?  Working with UNP has allowed me to align my research and teaching in ways that have direct resonance outside of academic settings.  
• Yda Smith, Social Work
  Synopsis of partnership. I am a faculty member with the Division of Occupational Therapy and am working toward a doctorate degree with the Department of Education, Culture and Society at the University of Utah.  I am currently working on a dissertation proposal.  My research will examine the experiences of Somali Bantu refugees who are living in Salt Lake City and compare their perceptions of the refugee resettlement process with those of employees of the numerous resettlement and state institutions they come in contact with during this process.  The focus of this research will be on the intersection of personal refugee experience with community institutions.  It is hoped that a comparison of this kind will result in a better understanding of gaps in services to this population.  Data will be gathered through participant observation and interviews across multiple settings in order to compare perspectives and look for common themes. In addition, a modified critical pedagogy approach will be used with a small group of Somali Bantu women who are residents of the Hartland Apartment complex. This group is already being offered as part of the University Neighborhood Partners Hartland Apartments project.  Currently this group, the Somali Bantu Women’s Literacy and Civic Action Group, is being funded by the American Express Center for Community Development.  The purpose of this group is to provide an opportunity for these Somali Bantu women to express their needs in language literacy and to describe the issues they face now that they live in Salt Lake City.  It is hoped that this group will provide a forum for generating meaningful solutions to problems they have identified as important to them as well as provide an opportunity to improve their English language skills.
  How did doing research in the community affect the research? Although the research project has not officially started, I am already attending meetings with a variety of community organizations that provide services to refugees and am working as a volunteer with members of the Somali Bantu community within the context of their daily lives.  By providing volunteer services to refugee families such as helping adults find employment, tutoring grade school children, and trying to understand why food stamp benefits stopped, I have had the opportunity to see first hand many of the struggles these families face.  Attending meetings of refugee service providers has allowed me to gain a better understanding of the roles each organization plays in the resettlement process.  By participating in the community, I am gaining a much clearer understanding of the context within which my research will take place.  When the time comes to complete interviews with members of the Somali Bantu community and with employees of the community organizations they interact with, I will have a much clearer idea of what questions to ask which will result in a more valid study.  In addition, I will not be a stranger to many members of the Somali Bantu community making it far more likely that they will trust me and will be willing to share their stories and concerns. 
  What are some of the applications / implications from the research / partnership (to other communities outside of Salt Lake, to the discipline, to theory, to addressing social problems, etc.)?  As I conduct this research I plan to stay in communication with a local refugee resettlement agency, the International Rescue Committee, in order to share my research as it progresses and to get feedback as to what additional information would be helpful.  By collaborating in this way with a community organization, it is more likely that the results of my research will be used to promote policy change resulting in improved services to future refugees resettling in our community.
• Carolan Ownby, Assistant Professor, Honors College; Director of the LEAP Peer Advisors
  Synopsis of partnership. LEAP to the U launched at West High in 2003. Part of the larger University of Utah Learning, Engagement, Achievement, and Progress (LEAP) program, LEAP to the U pairs about 30 college freshman enrolled in LEAP’s two-semester service learning class with 30 West High students in a buddy system designed to encourage potential first generation students to think of college as a realistic possibility in the future “LEAP to the U” came out of a series of conversations that I had with Sarah Munro in 2003, about ways that LEAP could partner with potential first generation students from West High School. Through this partnership of University of Utah faculty and students and West High School faculty and students, two communities come together, she explained. On the one hand, West high students are exposed to higher education, while University students have the opportunity to connect theories about racism, class, and genocide to their real world impact, for example.
  How did doing research in the community affect the research?: This year marks the first cohort of graduating seniors to have participated in the program. Six of the graduating seniors who went through LEAP to the U will be attending college in the fall. Two of them will be at the U.
  What challenges did the partnership face? Arranging a service-learning experience can be so positive, but it can also be incredibly time-consuming, and it offers a lot of potential frustration.  I think that’s because, once things move out of my classroom, I lose a certain amount of control.  I can plan as carefully as possible, and things still might not go according to plan.  That’s why having the strong backing of UNP is so important. UNP as a whole sees a bigger picture, and I can trust UNP members to give solid advice and positive reinforcement, just when I need it.
• Marisa Diener, Family and Consumer studies
  Synopsis of partnership. Taught a service-learning class where about eight students assisted in developing community advocate training for west Salt Lake families.
  How did doing research in the community affect the research? Service learning is a useful pedagogical technique where students provide service to the community while observing the course concepts in action. It makes course content more meaningful. Instead of just reading about an idea and discussing it in the classroom, the students get a chance to see the course concepts in action in the real world, while at the same time giving back to their community. It is a great way for students to make connections in the community and build their resumes.  In the past, I have had students comment that the service learning component was the best part of the class, even though they were initially reluctant to put in extra service hours because of their busy schedules. 
• Moises Prospero, Family and Consumer studies
  Working with UNP allows me, as a researcher of domestic violence, to further generalize my research findings of dating violence among college students into the community, especially with populations that may be at higher risk of domestic violence.  Findings from community research can be used directly to develop, implement, evaluate, and improve the services provided by community organizations.  UNP is a great help in that respect, as it facilitates the development of relationships between the University and community partners, which is vital for the process of conducting quality research for the purpose of addressing the needs of the community.
• Pete Miller
  Synopsis of partnership. The purpose of my study of the YES process was to learn about the extent to which the partnership’s planning and implementation processes were authentically rooted in the voices and desires of its community-based participants. This initiative sought to bring together university and west side school/neighborhood resources for reciprocal learning, action, and benefit. The partnership pooled the skills of local leaders and educators to make improvements in areas of parental involvement, leadership preparation, and access to college. Because the literature in the burgeoning field of school-university partnerships indicates that many collaborations tend to be dominated by university participants (Ascher & Schwartz, 1989; Maurasse, 2001; Maurrasse, 2002), YES, a partnership that explicitly desired a mutual and equitable collaborative process, was an interesting and appropriate unit of analysis.
  How did doing research in the community affect the research? The perspectives of Westside participants in YES were the very heart of this study.  It was my intent to learn as much as I possibly could about their experiences with the collaboration.  I attempted to ask questions that would allow these participants to express themselves most openly and honestly. 
  What challenges did the partnership face? It was difficult to locate all of the participants whose participation I desired in this study.  Some of the participants whose perspectives I most eagerly anticipated hearing - such as the parents and those whose first language was not English - were the most difficult to track down.  Also, it is always challenging to present such a huge accumulation of data in a coherent, meaningful way.
  What are some of the applications / implications from the research / partnership (to other communities outside of Salt Lake, to the discipline, to theory, to addressing social problems, etc.)? It is my hope that this work can benefit any partnership that seeks mutuality of neighborhood and university input in their collaborative processes.  The model that guided this study was one that is rooted in humility, faith in humankind, hope for the future, and critical thinking - characteristics that foster horizontal communication and, consequently, dialogue.  The study's implications are specifically directed at YES, but have a degree of transferability value for others as well. 
  What new questions were raised by your study or partnership that other researchers can follow up on? I guess the biggest question that remains unanswered is how the significant power dynamics that influence partnerships like UNP can be addressed.  Is it possible for powerful institutions like the University of Utah to work with genuine mutuality and equality with a local neighborhood that has been traditionally neglected?  What types of strategies and philosophies of action can contribute to such mutuality?
• Krysti Ryujin, former Director Utah Opportunity Scholarship
  Synopsis of partnership. Ryujin structured her service learning class so that the Utah Opportunity Scholars she taught could serve as mentors for the Adelante project at Jackson Elementary.
  How did doing research in the community affect the research? As we began partnering with the Adelante Project at Jackson Elementary, I was both excited and fearful.  Excited for our university students to have the opportunity to work with talented children from a local elementary school.  I knew that that the university students would both teach and learn about themselves, educational systems and larger structural issues.  The opportunity to partner with Adelante has been one of tremendous academic growth.  Our students have been able to take sometimes flat, lifeless text and make it relevant to their everyday lives.  Definitions of racism, whiteness, hegemony, culture of power, identity, empowerment, and equity become more than simple terms to be used in class or in research papers, but ways of identifying and understanding what is currently happening and what could happen if we all take real steps toward social justice.  While our students see very clearly the problems facing our educational system, they also see the real promise in the children at Adelante.  Our college students talk about the great questions they get from Adelante students, the thoughtful responses Adelante students make to the queries of our college students and the real appetite for learning that the children display everyday when they are reading, practicing math and learning about the world.
  What challenges did the partnership face? However, also fearful as I knew that for many of our college students they would be reminded of painful experiences from their own childhood and disappointed that so many of our diverse youth are still struggling for educational equity. 
  What are some of the applications / implications from the research / partnership (to other communities outside of Salt Lake, to the discipline, to theory, to addressing social problems, etc.)? The university has a wonderful opportunity to continue this great partnership.  Our university students gain tremendous insight into the world of education, equity and social justice through this powerful program and I hope Adelante students feel the same.
• Cheryl Wright, family and consumer studies professor
  Synopsis of partnership. Supervised a child development practicum for University of Utah early childcare students who were assigned to the Hartland Head Start Center.
  How did doing research in the community affect the research? The opportunity to be involved at the Hartland Head Start center is mutually beneficial for residents and students. Providing quality early childhood experiences for young children is the most important investment of resources. The way to make a difference is to reach children early with support services so they are successful in school. We also want the teachers working with young children to have challenging experiences—and these children with their diverse needs will provide wonderful learning opportunities for our students to get teaching experiences with a diverse group of children and families.
• Sandi Parkes, Public Administration
  Synopsis of partnership. Worked with seven University of Utah faculty to develop a locally-based community leadership training that teaches citizens how to engage in local government.
  How did doing research in the community affect the research? The revamped curriculum fits the needs of individuals in the greater Salt Lake City area in many ways—it informs, engages, and encourages action. The redesign project was highly collaborative. Each faculty member had taken on a module or two about which they are passionate, and the end result was a reflection of that passion. Additionally, I appreciate how we created modules with similar look, feel, and structure, while at the same time retained the ability of the instructors to put their own flavor into their work.
• Caitlin Cahill, community studies professor in  family and consumer studies
  Synopsis of partnership. Worked with Matt Bradley, Honors College instructor, to design and teach the first youth leadership course offered through the Westside Leadership Institute. Eighteen West High School students enrolled in the 14-week course, Mestizo Arts and Activism Project. The course is based on a participatory action research model that will engage young people as youth researchers using the arts as part of the research process and as a way to engage their community.   
  How did doing research in the community affect the research? This course infuses art, activism, and research into youth directed and determined projects.  The art mediums the students are interested in, as well as the social justice issues that they care will drive the trajectory of the course. By learning to do field research and interviews, to develop topic areas and research questions, to negotiate collectively, to understand the purpose and audience of research, and to come up with an appropriate research design, all the while maintaining an emphasis on action and community engagement will take these students on a personal and community journey that will lead them to see themselves as youth researchers. Our (Cahill’s and Bradley’s) academic interest lies in documenting the process and concerns of the youth research team during the span of this course.
• Luke Garrott, assistant professor, lecturer in political science
  Synopsis of partnership. Neighborhood Democracy (Political Science 3020) is a service-learning course that enrolls 20 students each Spring semester. It currently (2006-07) is in its third year. It has had at least moderate success in 1) teaching students in the classroom about democratic theory, sub-municipal politics, leadership, and community development and organizing; 2) involving them in a sui generis project (i.e. not simply assigning them to existing service providers) intended to multiply traditional classroom learning; and 3) generating University-community partnerships in the realization of projects benefiting the community. It connects the students in this course with a west Salt Lake community council. Over the past three years, students have conducted research projects on community council participation and helped create and facilitate the Rose Park Community Festival, among other projects.
  How does working with the community affect your teaching? My Neighborhood Democracy class is a service learning class. And I got involved because in teaching political theory, I found that there was something missing in the experience of students that theory and practice wasn’t being integrated in a way that would made students learning as real as it could be.  Because I’m a teacher first and for most I think about the experience the students are having. How could I make learning about democracy deeper, richer for students?  So first and foremost, it’s the student’s experience I’m most interested in augmenting. There may be something inherently virtuous about studying the history of political thought, and knowing, say, Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s vision for the social contract, or John Rawls’ two principles of justice. I can offer traditional class readings, lectures and discussions, which crucially inform the students in their individual journeys. But for the knowledge to be real, it would have to be largely experiential. Linking past knowledge with new class experiences creates what all educators would love to facilitate: reflective experiential knowledge. Activist teaching is not about indoctrinating students to “become engaged”; rather, it is about leading a discovery process for an authentic citizenship in each student. And thus my purpose: to teach of the concepts of political science through reflective interaction with the world outside the university classroom. But, it’s a service learning class also, and so improving the functioning of democracy at a neighborhood level is one of our explicit goals too. We saw community councils as something that already existed that have some momentum behind them and so we saw them as a logical partnership that students could learn about how democracy works at that grass roots level and help community councils carry out their own functions better.   
  What are some of the applications / implications from the teaching partnership (to other communities outside of Salt Lake, to the discipline, to theory, to addressing social problems, etc.)?  I think it does again it’s going to take more years than we’ve currently seen behind us to really measure those outcome but the students, in getting out of the classroom and forming relationships, partnerships with people in the community, citizens, dedicated citizens who are working on their volunteer time to improve their communities, is a huge bridging of learning and experience or theory and practice.  Students repeatedly in their reflection essays state how they now see how they can get involved. That it’s not abstract anymore, it’s not a matter of writing your representative away in Washington, it’s not a matter of sitting in on a committee meeting at the state capitol where you might or might not be heard but that in ones own neighborhood one can connect with people who are active in improving their own neighborhood and that bridge for students is, has been very powerful for them. And then it’s about students becoming political actors, about students thinking politically, not just abstractly and not just in a knowledge sort of way, I know how a bill becomes a law but  how to become an actor, how to become an  active citizen. And I’m very committed to not teaching citizenship in any particular way, in other words each student is going to create their own version of citizenship, what I like to call an authentic citizenship.  That doesn’t mean being civically engaged in one particular way, there’s no one model to be civically engaged.  Students need to find it for themselves. And so with a very diverse background my students come from I’m trying to help them become citizens in their own authentic way.  And the only way that you can do that is by getting outside of the classroom and participating and I think that my class does offer that to a certain extent.
       One of the reasons for the formation of University Neighborhood Partners was to improve the linkages between the University and the west side of Salt Lake, but also to improve the image. I think we’ve suffered in the greater Utah community with a reputation of not being terribly engaged and so I do think when the Rose Park Community council has a tremendously positive experience with the partnership through the undergraduates in my class that it does serve the university immensely as far as reputation goes. That we do care, and that we are good partners and that we’re responsible, that we have many resources that can be shared with the community. I think those are all positive things that reflect very well on the university.   
  What new questions were raised by your partnership that other faculty can follow up on? There are a lot of service learning classes at the University, but there’s a big question about effective pedagogy, also issues of feasibility. There are limitations to every faculty member’s time and service learning takes more time. Should the university have more classes where practical experience is part of the learning process? Yes. The questions is how to do that especially with the incentive structure currently in place at the University where if you’re a faculty member who’s tenure track to spend too much time in teaching will be the death of your career. And so I would like to see more faculty members like myself employed by the University who have the freedom to do this sort of work and more institutional incentives that will allow and encourage faculty members to satisfy their tenure track requirements while being civically engaged.  Many faculty members are civically engaged, but it doesn’t count for tenure and thus there’s a disincentive to doing it.  If we can web these two things together like UNP is trying to do, it’s in it’s mission, if we could continue to make that happen, this will be a great success.