History Overview

Historical Overview of the Engaged Scholarship Faculty Committee

Beginning in fall 2002, an ad hoc faculty group representing most University of Memphis colleges gathered over breakfast to informally address common interests around student internships and service learning.

The faculty group quickly expanded its discussion to encompass broader questions regarding (1) how faculty and students could be connected more meaningfully to its Mid-South community through research and teaching and (2) how to assess the reward structure of the university such that such scholarly work could be acknowledged and honored. Moving from a broad-based discussion of shared interests in strengthening the University of Memphis’s connection to the Mid-South community, the faculty group soon came to recognize that such a vision fit aptly within a movement in higher education increasingly referred to as engaged scholarship. Thus, the Ad Hoc Task Force on Engaged Scholarship was founded.