Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement

Understanding the Logic and Aims of Rutgers Future Scholars: A College Access Program Providing Hope and Opportunity to New Jersey

Adrian Gale — 2025-12-18

This article describes the Rutgers Future Scholars (RFS) program, established in 2007 to address the daunting challenges that hinder access to higher education for low-income, first-generation students. RFS spans 5 crucial years, offering academic and summer programming, mentorship, family support, and college tours. This comprehensive approach aims to enhance college readiness, identity development, social skills, academic achievement, and high school persistence, ultimately leading to college enrollment. RFS’s commitment to scholars is unwavering and aligns with restorative justice practices, emphasizing relationship-building and support over punitive measures. It serves as a beacon of hope for underserved communities. RFS seeks to create systemic changes within educational systems and empower students to overcome barriers to higher education by fostering partnerships, tailoring programs to unique contexts, and leveraging multisite locations. The article sheds light on the transformative potential of programs like RFS in reshaping the trajectories of underrepresented youth and expanding access to higher education.

Exploring the Impact of a Community-Engagement Project on Students’ Perceptions of Housing Justice and Insecurity and Their Intention for Continued Engagement

Jessica P. Hodge — 2025-12-18

This study employs a critical service-learning framework to examine how participation in a university-led service-learning initiative influences students’ understanding of homelessness and housing justice. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach—including focus group discussions and analysis of students’ written critical reflections—the research extends existing scholarship by exploring how community-based learning experiences reshape students’ perceptions of individuals experiencing homelessness. Additionally, the study explores whether a program designed to foster sustained engagement encourages students’ ongoing involvement even after the completion of an academic course, and whether the program deepens their understanding of advocacy and housing justice. Findings indicate that students highly valued their participation, and many expressed intentions to remain involved beyond the course. Students also offered feedback for improving the program to better equip them to be advocates. The study concludes with recommendations for future research to advance similar programs in fostering meaningful outcomes for both students and the local community.

Transformative Learning Through Sports Outreach: A Case Study for Sharing a University Student’s Community-Engaged Learning Experience

Noah Kenneth Schaber — 2025-12-18

This article examines Noah, a sport management major and Honors student, who has worked in a supportive housing community for over 2 years. His journey started in a community-engaged learning (CEL) course and grew into an Honors project, focused on developing a sports outreach program to meet local needs. Using reflective practice and a case study approach, Noah’s contributions to the community are demonstrated, and the transformative effects of CEL on his personal and professional growth are highlighted. The findings showcase the long-term impact of CEL on students and underscore the value of integrating such projects into academic programs for both student development and community benefit.

The Symbiotic Relationship Between Grant Writing and Community-Engaged Scholarship

Marina Denny — 2025-12-18

When integrated effectively, community engagement principles can enhance capacity and broaden impacts for community-engaged scholars seeking and writing grants. Viewed through the lens of a participatory framework that emphasizes the importance of mutual recognition, humility, and relationship-building in community-driven work, a grant development process that advocates for early and intentional community partner engagement, highlighting the benefits of cocreating solutions and building trust, begins to address concerns of historically extractive research and resulting mistrust toward higher education institutions, particularly among vulnerable communities. Although this approach requires greater intentionality, time, and even systemic changes at the institutional level, the authors propose that community-engaged grant writing can be ethical, beneficial, and conducive to genuine community impact, challenging traditional academic structures and promoting collaborative, reciprocal relationships between scholars, practitioners, and community partners.

Embodying PAR: A Reflection on Building Trust Across Institutional Hierarchies

Anita Chikkatur — 2025-12-18

In this cowritten reflection, two co–principal investigators of a federally funded participatory action research (PAR) project that involved a university–community collaboration discuss how they built a relationship of trust through a deep shared belief in PAR ethics and ethos and through what they learned together from their collaboration with community researchers about the importance of building relationships and solidarity across differences. They argue that building ethical, reciprocal relationships between faculty and staff within universities, especially in the context of collaborations with communities outside the university, is a worthwhile and necessary component of living out the ethics of a participatory framework.

Challenges and Opportunities in University Collaborations With Public and Private Sectors

Adesoji O. Adelaja — 2025-12-18

Drawing on the author’s experiences in public and private sector needs assessment; university, government, and industry partnerships; and resourcing such partnerships, this article highlights some of the challenges and opportunities facing university-based boundary units and faculty operating in the domains of public policy, business strategy, and economic development. It compares the characteristics and behavior of universities to those of the private and public sectors; presents seven case studies to highlight useful processes and outcomes; and summarizes key lessons that may help guide activities beyond the traditional walls of higher education in building mutually beneficial partnerships. The article concludes with recommendations in such areas as leadership, reward strategies, team building, funding, value creation, communication, and enterprise sustainability.

Authoring Civic Identities in Figured Worlds: A Case Study of a Curricular Community Engagement Program

Lalita Kaligotla — 2025-12-18

Civic identity is of scholarly import given ongoing investments in community engagement in higher education. Despite extensive scholarship, gaps remain in our understanding of students’ civic identity development. This case study explicates the ways in which a curricular community engagement program influenced the development of baccalaureate students’ civic identity. Leveraging theoretical borderlands (Abes, 2009), and bringing to bear two theories in identity development—self-authorship (Baxter Magolda, 1999) and figured worlds (Holland et al., 1998)—the study offers a new perspective about the impact of curricular community engagement in shaping students’ civic identity. Findings revealed that early experiences influenced students’ college choices and subsequent civic work in college. Furthermore, curricular community engagement played a critical role in the evolution of students’ identities as civic agents and engaged citizens, highlighting that such experiences are crucial to fulfilling the civic mission of higher education institutions. Findings have important implications for pedagogy, policy, and praxis.

Development and Validation of Service-Learning Experience Scale

Veerta Tantia — 2025-12-18

The growing integration of service-learning into academic content reflects higher education institutions’ efforts to provide an environment that strengthens teaching, learning, and service to the community. This research article documents the development and testing of an instrument that measures service-learning experiences among higher education students in India. Our study involved the voluntary participation of 290 students; data was collected through Google Forms. The resulting scale measures six major aspects of students’ experiences in service-learning projects: curriculum, meaningful service, student learning and reflection, faculty support and involvement, peer support and participation, and accomplishment. The demonstrated scale showed an adequate degree of reliability. The content validity confirmed that positive experience is accounted for by service-learning projects, which is the objective of the instrument. The study will be valuable for faculty members to create effective service-learning courses and help students engage in such activities in an organized manner.

Rural Anchor Institutions: How Rural Public Colleges Support the Well-Being of Rural People and Communities

Steve Jenks — 2025-12-18

This study explored 118 Rural Public Colleges (RPCs) throughout the United States and the counties in which they are located. The findings show that RPCs act as anchor institutions by facilitating rural health infrastructure and workforce and economic development. Despite narratives of declining enrollments among RPCs, the study finds evidence of growing enrollments among many RPCs as well as diversifying student bodies, which points to the importance of these institutions to promoting rural postsecondary access. The study concludes with research, policy, and practice recommendations to strengthen the contributions RPCs make as anchor institutions to the people and communities they serve.

29(4) Entire Issue

2025-12-18

29(4) Entire Issue

29(4) Editorial Board

2025-12-18

29(4) Editorial Board

29(4) Table of Contents

2025-12-18

29(4) Table of Contents

29(4) Note from the Editor

2025-12-18

29(4) Note from the Editor