Dissertation Dish in 2024
About the Dissertation Dish
The Dissertation Dish is a collaboration between the International Association for Research on Service Learning and Community Engagement (IARSLCE), GivePulse, and LEAD California. Dissertation Dish webinars are meant for all audiences, from seasoned scholars to practitioners to graduate students, as well as journal editors or conference organizers seeking scholars to present the most current and innovative research. Dissertation Dish highlights quality emerging research in the field of service learning and community engagement by providing a platform for recent doctoral degree recipients to share their work more broadly. We invite you to join us!
REQUEST TO PRESENT
If you completed your dissertation in the past two years on a topic that relates to community engagement and service learning, and you wish to be considered as a possible presenter for an upcoming Dissertation Dish webinar, please click the button below to share information about your dissertation research. If you are selected, you will be contacted to coordinate a presentation.
The Dish on October 2nd, 2024
The Transformative Potential of Community Engagement in Higher Education: An Analysis of Service-Learning Effects on Students, Communities, and Institutions
SPEAKER
CHRISTIANCOMPARE
Adjunct Professor and Research Fellow, Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Italy.
Moderator: Star Plaxton-Moore, EdD, Associate Director of Community Engaged Learning and Research, Stanford University.
Abstract: Service-learning in higher education institutions (HEIs) is gaining global recognition for its dual role in enhancing student learning and fulfilling HEIs’ third mission. Despite the growing empirical and conceptual research on its impact on students, methodological rigor has been questioned, and the experiences of faculty and community members have been underexplored. This dissertation addresses these gaps through three studies: comparing the effects of service-learning courses to traditional ones, interviewing community partners across Europe regarding motivations and effects, and involving European faculty members to explore engaged scholarship’s transformative impacts on students, teachers, and HEIs. The dissertation proposes integrating the 4Rs model—reflexivity, relevance, respect, and reciprocity—with a fifth dimension: relatedness, based on the community experience of actors involved in the service-learning process. Theoretical and practical implications, limitations, and future research directions are discussed.
Dr. Christian Compare, is a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Bologna, Italy. His research builds on critical community psychology and focuses on civic engagement, sense of community, and youth empowerment. He is currently involved in research with youth from an intersectional perspective. Since its inception in 2016, he has been a member of the Bologna service-learning team and has participated in several European Erasmus+ projects on service-learning, collaborating with international partners to promote educational innovation. He is currently an active member of the Italian Service-Learning University Network (UNiSL).
The Dish on August 27th, 2024
The Latin American University in the Society. Analysis of the Relationship Between University and Community from the Capabilities Approach for Human Development
SPEAKER
CARMENMONGE
Director of Experiential Learning, UC San Diego.
Co-Moderator: Maria Avila, an independent consultant, collaborative researcher, and relational organizer. Previously an Associate Professor in the Department of Social Work at California State University, Dominguez Hills; & Matias G. Flores a Ph.D. Candidate in Development Sociology at Cornell University and Chair-Elect of the IARSLCE Graduate Student Network.
Abstract: This dissertation explores two Latin American community engagement experiences through the lenses of the capabilities approach for human development at Universidad Nacional, Costa Rica, and Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Argentina. The main purpose is to comprehend their contribution toward transformative community engagement. Based on constructivist and interpretivist paradigms, this research uses multiple qualitative methods, including participant observation, interviews, discussion groups, and document analysis. It seeks to identify the most valued capabilities by the participants (students and community partners) and the most relevant institutional resources and conversion factors for their development. The main findings include the expansion of individual and collective capabilities, the confluence of personal, social, and contextual factors in their development, and proposals to promote educational change necessary to move toward transformative community engagement. This research introduces the first Latin American index to study how community engagement contributes to capabilities and sustainable human development while engaging with the Latin American community engagement [extensión universitaria] tradition and literature.
Dr. Carmen Monge Hernández, is an engaged scholar (extensionista) at the Universidad Nacional, Costa Rica (UNA). Lecturer and advisor of community engagement projects of the Vicerrectoría de Extensión at UNA. Ph.D. in Local Development and International Cooperation, with international concentration, at Universitat Politècnica de València, Universitat de València, and Universitat Jaume I, Spain. Economist with Master’s degrees in Management at Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica and in Development Cooperation at Universitat Politècnica València, Spain. Her themes of interest are human development, Latin American public university, community engagement (extensión universitaria) and participatory local development. She actively participates in various institutional committees on community engagement and in two international networks: Red Iberoamericana Multibien (Cyted) y la Red Centroamericana de Investigación en Investigación Crítica (RECIEC). As of 2021, she is co-producer and co-host of the program PraxisTV: UNA Extensión Crítica.
The Dish on April 24th, 2024
Stories from the Field: Black Service-Learning Student Experiences
SPEAKER
ROCHELLESMARR
Director of Experiential Learning, UC San Diego
Co-Moderator: Dr. Marisol Morales, Executive Director of the Carnegie Elective Classifications, and Dr. Elaine Ikeda, Executive Director of LEAD California.
Abstract: The aim of this research study is to provide a macro picture of Black student’s experiences in service-learning through reflective semi-structured interviews (Creswell, 2015; Shah, 2020). To better understand the experiences of Black students’ service-learning experiences, a grounded research study was used to highlight themes that emerged from the data collected by participants (Charmaz, 2017; Kimball et al., 2016; Mertler, 2019). Together the conceptual frameworks of transformative learning theory and student voice theory provided a lens into how students make meaning of their service-learning experiences. By sharing their own narrative stories about what they learned (transformative learning theory) and how they learned through their service-learning experiences (student voice theory) (Cook Sather, 2002; Cook- Sather, 2006; Kiely, 2005; Matthews & Dollinger, 2022; Mezirow, 1997; Welch & Plaxton- Moore, 2019).
Click here to learn more about Rochelle Smarr.
The Dish on February 1st, 2024
“I was Invisible to them:” An Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis of Community Engaged Researchers’ Experience of Institutional Support
SPEAKER
EMILYPHAUP
Professional Development Manager, Campus Compact.
Abstract: Community engaged scholarship has gained attention as public universities begin to answer calls to return to their roots of serving the public good. The scholars at the heart of community engagement play an important role in this mission, but their experiences in the academy are not well understood. As institutional leaders endeavor to support this important work, they need more information about the ways institutional support is experienced by the faculty. Research largely advocates for institutionalization efforts and more responsive promotion and tenure systems. However, the literature has yet to investigate how these strategies for support are felt among the faculty involved, or whether other forms of support are being overlooked. A deeper understanding of the nuanced lived experiences of community engaged scholars could improve their ability to attend to the public purpose of the institution.
The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the way community engaged researchers experienced institutional support as they worked through unexpected changes associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. This research described the essence of the experience for five community engaged scholars at a public institution with a recognized legacy of community engagement. The study used a hermeneutic qualitative phenomenological approach and participant interviews to investigate the phenomenon. Participants were community engaged scholars at a broad access institution in the Pacific Northwest during a challenging time in history.
The year 2020 was marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, threats to democracy, and police violence against African Americans, among other crisis events. During these ongoing challenges, community engaged scholars persisted in their research. Their stories emphasized the nuanced experiences within their individual contexts at the same university.
Interviews with faculty found a range of experiences. Themes included feelings of inclusion or exclusion, frustration or ease, privilege or restriction, security or instability, and more. Data suggested contextual factors like institution type, disciplinary department, and type of faculty position influenced the way they experienced support. Relationships and connectedness were crucial in women’s experiences in all cases. More broadly, undifferentiated forms of support for community engaged researchers were found to be insufficient. More tailored forms of support for individuals, or groups with commonalities like women, would be a more effective approach.
Institutional leaders would do well to recognize the meaningful contributions community engaged scholars are making to the mission of the university and invest in understanding their needs. This study provides a glimpse inside the lived experiences of these faculty and offers insight into the forms of support that would be most meaningful in their work. Improving systems of support for community engaged scholars would pay off in achieving the mission of public universities: serving the communities for whom they were built.
Dr. Emily Phaup is the Professional Development Manager for Campus Compact. In this role she supports civic and community engagement practitioners seeking to enhance their skills, knowledge, and critical commitments in ways that emphasize equity and yield better outcomes for students, institutions, and communities. Emily also leads the Northwest 5 Consortium for community engaged learning, a project supported by the Mellon Foundation housed at Whitman College. Prior to joining the community engagement field, she served rural Oregon communities as an Extension Professional in positive youth development. Emily has a M.A. in Sustainable Communities from Northern Arizona University and received her Ph.D. in Education, Free-Choice Learning, from Oregon State University in 2022. As a scholar practitioner she continues to pursue research around institutional support for community engaged scholars with a particular interest in women’s experiences and the public purpose mission of land-grant institutions.