Welcome

Extending the University's Impact

The Office of University Outreach is here to foster outreach in a variety of forms across the University community and thereby extend the transformational impact the University has throughout the state and beyond our geographical borders.

We are pleased that you are visiting our new website. For external constituents, we have compiled a listing of programs by generic topic and region that we hope will allow you to locate the University resource you are interested in quickly and easily.

Our definition of Engaged Scholarship is found below.

'University Resource' refers to those activities and entities that the University makes available to its various constituencies, but there may be a cost involved to access those resources.

'Public Service' refers to those activities which the university provides to everyone at no cost to the individual."

Engaged Scholarship

For University of Connecticut faculty and professional staff, we have compiled extensive background information on engaged scholarship, what it is and how you can enhance your teaching and research through engaged activities, including experiential learning and community-based research.

For both internal and external constituents, we hope you will use the Office of University Outreach as a means to link people with similar interests to help solve some of the most pressing social concerns our society is facing.

Outreach Forum

The Office of University Outreach is an outcome of the work of the Provost’s Outreach Forum which was first started in Fall 2003. The members of the Forum continue to drive the initiatives of the new Office. You can find a listing of the members and their departmental affiliation on the right hand column off the homepage.

Defining Outreach and Engagement

As the nomenclature we use to define ideas helps create the structural forms that lead to actions, one of the first agenda items of the Outreach Forum was to define what is meant by the terms “outreach” and “engagement” for our community.

• “Outreach” at the University of Connecticut consists of all activities where the University offers its resources, both human and physical, to external constituencies.
• “Engagement” is used for the subset of activities that are mutually beneficial to external as well as internal communities.
• “Engaged Scholarship” focuses on those activities that promote advanced understanding and creative works in a mutually beneficial manner.

All three categories help the University serve the public good.

The Hoskin Venn Diagram

In order to help visually conceptualize what we wanted to accomplish, one of the members of the Outreach Forum, Dr. Robert Hoskin from the School of Business, developed the Hoskin Venn Diagram of Engaged Scholarship that is at the center of our homepage. This diagram clearly illustrates the University of Connecticut approach to outreach and engagement.

For the Public Good

As an excellent university grounded in the land grant tradition, we strive to have a vibrant core that reflects engaged scholarship for the public good across all three elements of a first class university - teaching, research and service - or in Ernest Boyer’s terms, teaching, discovery, application and integration. To this end, you will find an announcement of the first Recognition Awards for Outreach and Public Engagement in the Faculty and Staff Resource section. Additionally, you will find updates in the Minutes of the Outreach Forum on the new electronic faculty annual reporting databases we are working on.

A New Reporting Tool

We will be piloting a new reporting tool with two schools and one college, the Schools of Business and Fine Arts and the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, during the 2006-2007 academic year.

This pilot should provide the feedback we need to adapt the technology so that it is easy to use and beneficial to faculty in all UConn schools and colleges. It is our aim to adapt the structures of the University to better support faculty, professional staff and students in their partnerships with external constituencies that leads to vibrant engaged scholarship for the public good.

Improving This Website

The website you are visiting now is subject to change. We would like your feedback about what works and what doesn’t for you. Is the site easy to navigate? Does it have the information you are looking for? What should we change to make it better and easier for you?

Get Involved

The same questions also apply for the new Office of University Outreach. Please let me know how we can better serve your needs by going to the “Get Involved” page on this website.

Your feedback is important to us.

Mission and Vision

Background Information:

The Kellogg Commission Report Renewing the Covenant (1999) states engaged institutions need to:

• be organized to respond to the needs of today’s and tomorrow’s (not yesterday’s)    students
• enrich student experiences by bringing research and engagement into the curriculum and to offer practical opportunities for students to prepare for the world they will enter, and
• put the institution’s critical resources of knowledge and expertise to work on the problems communities face.

Mission for University Outreach at UConn:

University Outreach at the University of Connecticut provides leadership to connect, coordinate, facilitate, foster, prepare and promote outreach programs and engaged scholarship which serves the public good, helps prepare our students to be leaders in their chosen fields, and supports faculty and staff in scholarly outreach efforts.

Engaged Scholarship is a method of teaching, conducting research and providing service.   It is integral to the academic process and to the institution-wide mission of a land grant university.  

University Outreach provides resources for faculty, professional staff and students to integrate engaged scholarship into their academic, research and service programs, and maximize the University’s impact on the communities with whom it engages by facilitating interdisciplinary connections and forming long-term community partnerships.

Vision for University Outreach:

The University, through the office of “University Outreach and Engagement”, shall encourage, support, and recognize outreach and engagement activities by students, staff and faculty.  

The University acknowledges the importance of these activities as central to its missions of teaching, learning, research, and service to the community.

The Office of University Outreach and Engagement will provide leadership to identify how the University can most appropriately serve the public good and develop institution-wide strategies to achieve this vision.