Office of Economic Development

Engagement and Outreach Scholars Academy

Purpose

EOSA will increase faculty knowledge, motivation, and capacity to secure research funding and conduct scholarly engagement within service learning, partnerships and outreach. EOSA will allow key external stakeholders to partner with faculty in order to conduct research that will benefit the public, promote a culture of engagement across campus, strengthen ECU's reputation for community and economic development, and help faculty to approach their outreach in a scholarly way that supports their pursuit of promotion and tenure.

Goals

  1. Enhance faculty's ability to progress from traditional outreach and service to peer reviewed outreach scholarship through review of best practices and application of these techniques to their own scholarship. By the end of each EOSA semester, faculty participants will:

    • Develop insight into the scholarship of engagement and reflect on personal experiences in the Academy.
    • Describe the criteria for the evaluation of the scholarship of engagement.
    • Develop an engaged scholarship plan.
    • Identify the resources for publication of engaged scholarship.
    • Critique examples of engaged scholarship.
    • Identify key funding resources for engaged scholarship.

  2. Expand faculty capacity to form mutually beneficial partnerships that enhance their scholarship and to conduct research that fosters economic growth and improves the quality of life for eastern North Carolinians. By the end of each EOSA semester, faculty participants will:

    • Identify the ECU resources for partnership development.
    • Evaluate current ECU partnerships for inclusion in scholarship plan.
    • Summarize the key components of effective partnerships.
    • Identify the issues relevant to communities.
    • Interact with community partner panels.
    • Develop an engaged scholarship research propEOSAl and refine based upon Coaches' and peer evaluations.
    • The subsequent semester, implement the research project with funding support from EOSA.

  3. Further discussions at ECU about engagement, outreach scholarship, and economic development and the implications for faculty realms of responsibility and promotion and tenure. By the end of each EOSA semester, faculty participants will:

    • Interact with ECU engaged scholars to establish a network of support for engaged scholarship.
    • Describe the process of T and P and the role of relevant committees in evaluating engaged scholarship.
    • Identify ways to document engaged scholarship for the T and P process.
    • Work with EOSA assigned coach to develop a T and P plan that includes engaged scholarship.