Donnelly, Idaho, is a small town surrounded by private ranches and Forest Service property. Through the center of Donnelly runs Boulder Creek, a small tributary feeding into Cascade Lake Reservoir. Boulder Creek originates from a mountain lake north of Donnelly. Since 1994 it has been listed as "impaired" by the Environmental Protection…

Since its inception, Metropolitan State University has demonstrated a strong commitment to community partnerships and the integration of community engagement into student learning and scholarship while meeting community-defined needs. This article presents examples of reciprocal partnerships in the context of a shared community-university library…

The purpose of this paper is to describe an educational partnership experience between rural retailers and graduate students in a Merchandising, Apparel and Textiles program. Students were afforded an opportunity to work with small business owners in rural communities, giving them real world exposure to the actual challenges being faced by…

Collaborations between diverse Catholic organizations will be important in fulfilling the goals contained in the Institute of Medicine (IOM) 2010 document, "The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health." This article describes a qualitative research study examining the partnership between a graduate-level school of nursing in…

Personal food system mapping is a practical means to engage community participants and educators in individualized and shared learning about food systems, decisions, and behaviors. Moreover, it is a useful approach for introducing the food system concept, which is somewhat abstract. We developed the approach to capture diversity of personal food…

Globalization continues to transform how universities work: the students and subjects they teach, and the way they conduct and disseminate research. With tight budgets everywhere in the wake of the global economic downturn, universities are under increasing pressure to demonstrate value for money to the wider public from their research and…

The U.S. military has long understood the value of immersive simulations in education. Before the Navy entrusts a ship to a crew, crew members must first practice and demonstrate their competency in a fully immersive, simulated environment. Why not teach students in the same way? K-12 educators in Pennsylvania, USA, recently did just that when…

Educators can provide opportunities for active learning for the students by engaging them in client-based projects with the community, which enhances application of theory and provides students with the relevance demanded from the business community. Experiential learning opportunities through client-based projects provide for such an experience.…

The purpose of this paper is to share my experiences as the instructor of a full-time, single semester, service-learning capstone course. In this innovative course students already volunteering in the Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) organization work in teams to identify community needs and address them using their business skills and knowledge…

Identifying a community problem or need and helping to solve it via student-led initiatives is at the heart of service learning. Projects can tackle social issues with global impact or fill in a smaller local need using creativity and ingenuity. Service learning projects can range from a few weeks to a full semester or longer. Where service…

The New Mexico Rural Revitalization Initiative (NMRRI), an innovative program to enhance the growth and development of rural communities, involves schools and students as part of a holistic approach. The program requires community members to take responsibility for revitalizing their economy and fosters an entrepreneurial spirit among students.

This EPI Policy Perspectives covers a presentation given at the European University Association Annual Convention (March 20, 2009, in Prague, Czech Republic) that addresses the Bologna process in the European Union. The process raised many questions regarding the role of the university, and the entire tertiary/postsecondary system of education.…

This paper is the first in a two-part series focused on first-generation college students (FGCS) in Christian colleges. It provides an overview of the literature regarding the pre-enrollment needs and experiences of these students and will be followed by a second article focused on the support needs and persistence of FGCS. Because much of the…

In June 2013, Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago and the Institute for Educational Leadership convened a group of stakeholders, researchers, and practitioners in Washington, DC. The group discussed the role of partnerships in advancing educational opportunities for low-income children and youth in the United States. They examined topics…

This article describes the Community Grant Writing Project (CGWP), a flexible service-learning framework designed for use in writing-intensive courses. The CGWP incorporates best-practice recommendations from the service-learning literature and addresses recent challenges identified for successful service-learning partnerships. In the CGWP,…