Course Description
A survey of the public service, outreach, engagement, and
extension dimensions of the United States university. It focuses
on the conceptions that undergird the idea of public service and
on various dimensions of the public service mission.
Athena Title
Outreach and Public Service
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in EDHI 8500E
Semester Course Offered
Offered spring
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student learning Outcomes
- To provide students with an understanding of the historical background and origins of public service and outreach in the modern U.S. university.
- To have students review, critique, and become conversant with the literature related to the subject.
- To have students discover the bibliographical "gaps" within this literature which offer scholarly opportunity for the future.
- To have students learn various organizational models for conducting public service in the modern university.
- To have students learn various funding models for the support of the public service mission within the university.
- To have students become thoroughly conversant with a single public service program in a university including its rationale program objectives, funding model, faculty expertise, organizational structure, and evaluation.
- To have students gain an understanding of the public service culture within the university and its potential conflict with the overarching culture of the research university.
- To have students complete the course with the ability to articulate and define clearly outreach and public service in the modern university from an historical perspective through to its modern manifestations.
Topical Outline
- Definitions of terms and historical background - This concentration of the course will examine the meaning of public service in the U.S. college and university as manifested in such terms as outreach, extension, service, engagement and other terms. The historical basis for these concepts and their incorporation into the tripartite mission of the modern, comprehensive institution as the third element in that mission will be analyzed through assigned readings and the "oral histories" of faculty who have participated in such activities. Sample questions addressed will be: Is all applied research outreach? Are university clinical activities outreach? Are university profit centers outreach?
- The land-grant concept - From the historical background, a detailed examination of the legislation (Morrill Act) that led to the land-grant college will be conducted. The philosophical underpinnings of the concept, democratic access and utilitarianism will be explored to help students understand the modern political pressures on universities to be attuned to matters of "economic development" that hinge on concepts of a "relevant" curriculum which leads to an employed workforce in the minds of many politicians.
- Agriculture and Cooperative Extension To understand outreach and public service in the modern university requires a full understanding of the role of Cooperative Extension and the "appropriation" of the term "extension." Related to this will be for the student to see the relationship among funding agencies at the local, state, and federal levels. This background will provide understanding for why politicians and ordinary citizens expect "services" from "their" colleges and universities. This will be contrasted with the classical approach of the European university.
- University public service and government - This topic will explore the relationship between academic technical assistance and local and state governments.
- Economic development, community development, technology transfer - The focus of this thematic concentration will be to examine relationships of the university to society in transferring the benefits of applied and basic research to applied formats in society. This will include incubator programs and their ability to enhance entrepreneurial initiatives and to stimulate small business development, as well as those projects which have more sweeping applications. Also included will be examples of international outreach and the benefits which can accrue from these activities to advance democratic principles while offering opportunities for economic improvement and educational development.
- Continuing education in the modern university - This manifestation of outreach and service will be examined as to philosophy in a lifelong learning society as well as internal university issues related to mission, funding, and organizational structure.
- The faculty and public service: qualifications, evaluation, career path, and university culture - This topic seeks to outline issues related to the faculty reward system, faculty preparation for service assignments, faculty career paths, and the impact of the research university's culture on fulfilling the service mission.
- Financial and Budgetary Issues Related to Public Service Funding strategies, practices, and models for the future will be examined with an eye to how one "pays for" the service mission when formulas won't work and dollars aren't attracted, as with research. What degree of self-support must/should be employed? What are the accountability measures that can and should be employed?
- Scholarship in the field of university outreach and public service - The approach to this topic will be to help the student examine outlets for scholarly writing in the arena of outreach and public service while also exploring areas for research and study.
