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Vol. 11 No. 1

The Transformative Engagement Process: Foundations and Supports for University-Community Partnerships

Submitted
February 21, 2011
Published
2011-02-21

Abstract

This article describes one university’s approach to transformative
engagement: An engagement process based not on
transfer of expertise from university to community (technology
transfer), but rather on an interactive process in which all partners
apply critical thinking skills to complex community problems.
Iterative in nature, it is informed by a university-wide
model of engagement built on the land-grant tradition and by
grounded principles from the literature. University Outreach
and Engagement (UOE) provides several modes of connecting
for structural support. To be successful, partners must have
appropriate and multiple ways of making and sustaining connections
to each other and to information that will help them
move through transformations. These modalities encompass
individual and systemic connections in both face-to-face and
electronic venues. The structures are designed to meet the needs
of those engaged in partnerships while promoting evidencebased
best practices in community agencies.