Universities often measure community engagement by institutional outputs, ignoring outcomes relevant to community partners. This stems from a lack of evaluation frameworks that capture diverse partnerships and contexts, which are essential for understanding impact and authentic collaboration. When evaluation is one-sided, it risks misrepresenting impact and marginalizing community perspectives. To shift institutional evaluation policies centered on transactional reporting toward bidirectional impact assessment, investigators from Indiana University Indianapolis (IUI), in Indiana, led the co-creation of a new community engagement evaluation framework. The project engaged 16 faculty, 2 staff members, and 24 community partners through semi-structured interviews and focus-group cognitive interviews (FGCI) to identify relevant engagement outcomes. Centering partners as co-creators challenged existing institutional practices and facilitated a critical shift in the university's valuation of community knowledge. Navigating this change revealed significant disparities between institutional terminology, collaboration categorizations, and partners' lived experiences, necessitating major structural revisions to the evaluation tool before piloting. A key lesson for managing similar realignments of engagement programs is that deep, qualitative stakeholder engagement is vital for successfully transitioning institutional measurement frameworks to reflect authentic collaboration with communities.
This commentary proposes the VantaBlack Ecosystem as a strategic model for advancing Black empowerment and well-being within predominantly White institutions (PWIs) during a period of increasing political and institutional constraints on diversity initiatives. The framework outlines how universities can establish mutually reinforcing structures—such as cultural centers, academic programs, research initiatives, and affinity networks—to support Black students, faculty, staff, and administrators collectively. Unlike traditional diversity efforts that primarily focus on student outcomes, the VantaBlack Ecosystem emphasizes the importance of investing in Black employees as essential to sustaining student success and institutional change. The article reflects on the author’s experience at the University of Idaho, where initiatives including a reinstated Black cultural center, strengthened Black Studies programming, and the creation of research labs contributed to building a hub for Black community life on campus. Lessons from this implementation highlight both opportunities and challenges, including staffing limitations, institutional politics, and the need for shared vision among stakeholders. The commentary concludes by offering a practical framework for institutional leaders seeking to foster environments where Black communities can thrive despite shifting political and policy landscapes.
This article examines the possibilities and limits of institutionalizing community engagement in higher education through an eight-year case study of the Office of Public Scholarship and Engagement (PSE) at the University of California, Davis (2017–2025). Drawing from practitioner-activist experience, social movement theory, systems thinking, and collective impact frameworks, the article analyzes how PSE sought to build institutional capacity, shift campus culture, and advance epistemic equity. Despite significant accomplishments—including new programs, merit and promotion guidelines, and a UC-wide engagement network—the office was ultimately dismantled amid shifting institutional priorities, neoliberal pressures, and political volatility. Using radical critiques of the university, including Harney and Moten’s Undercommonsand K. Wang Yang’s Third University, the article interrogates the structural constraints that limit institutionalization and explores alternative approaches to community engagement that emphasize pluralism, solidarity, and insurgent forms of organizing. The UC Davis case illustrates both the transformative potential and inherent fragility of institutionalized engagement efforts, offering insights for practitioner-activists navigating a rapidly changing higher education landscape.
This article examines James Madison University’s X-Labs as a model of institutional innovation through transdisciplinary, experiential learning. Grounded in theory and sustained through strategic partnerships, X-Labs supports student leadership, faculty renewal, and institutional learning. The initiative illustrates how relationship-centered practices, rooted in trust, collaboration, and autonomy, can foster systemic change. Drawing from literature on organizational change, leadership, and innovation, the paper explores how X-Labs contributes to institutional resilience and offers replicable insights for higher education leaders navigating complexity and transformation.
