Document Type

Article

Publication Title

TAMARA: Journal for Critical Organizational Inquiry

Publisher

Kozminski University

Rights and Access Note

This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. In addition, no permission is required from the rights-holder(s) for educational uses. For other uses, you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

Publication Date

12-2013

Publisher location

Warszawa, Poland

First Page

41

Last Page

52

Issue Number

4

Volume Number

11

Abstract/ Summary

Communities face complex problems that are best addressed by integrating the perspectives of multiple disciplines, yet many forms of engaged scholarship remain disciplinarily specific. Universities struggle to bring together highly disparate disciplines linking knowledge with action to address community problems. Sustainability is an important example of a complex, urgent problem that is best addressed by integrating multiple disciplines. In the United States, a unique multi-year initiative, Maine’s Sustainability Solutions Initiative (SSI), addresses sustainability problems by working across disciplines on engaged research. Scholars, representing multiple disciplines and most of the higher education institutions in the state, working with their community partners, are addressing sustainability problems related to landscape change, specifically urbanization, forest ecosystem management, and climate change. This initiative is composed of over two dozen interdisciplinary, engaged research projects that include diverse stakeholders (e.g., nongovernmental organizations, communities, policy organizations, and governmental leaders) as members of the research teams. Reflecting on the challenges of involving multiple disciplines in research projects, we discuss SSI as an exemplar of interdisciplinary, engaged campus initiatives. The scale and reach of the initiative (on-campus and statewide), the number of disciplines and stakeholders involved in the project, and the conversations around engaged scholarship occurring at the University of Maine capture the challenges and opportunities of moving the scholarship of engagement beyond the isolated work of individual disciplines.

Citation/Publisher Attribution

Silka, L., Glover, R., Hutchins, K., Lindenfeld, L.A., Blackstone, A., Elliot, C., Ladenheim, M., Sullivan, C. (2013) Moving Beyond the Single Discipline: Building a Scholarship of Engagement that Permeates Higher Education. TAMARA: Journal for Critical Organizational Inquiry, 11(4), 41-52.

Publisher Statement

© 2013 by Kozminski University

Version

publisher's version of the published document

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In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted.