In early October, the Engagement Scholarship Consortium (ESC) hosted their annual conference in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. This year marked the 15th annual conference titled “Engage for Change: Changing for Engagement.” The event was an opportunity for participating higher education institutes to meet and have conversations about university-community partnerships.
At this year’s conference, Penn State had more than 12 faculty representatives give presentations throughout the weekend. Two members of Penn State’s Sustainability Institute were inducted into the Academy of Community Engagement Scholarship (ACES).
Nancy Franklin and Ted Alter were acknowledged by ACES for their help to better communities by advancing scholarship through collaborations between the community and higher education institutes. Members are people who have shown high levels of dedication and success in engagement, and to work together to promote partnerships between communities and higher education institutes by tackling obstacles and seeking new opportunities.
Nancy Franklin is the director of programs and partnerships at Penn State’s Sustainability Institute. She focuses on scholarship and engagement through community partnerships, articles, book chapters and meeting presentations. In her previous position at Virginia Tech, she helped establish the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research.
Ted Alter is a professor of agriculture, environment and regional economics at Penn State. He is also the former director of Cooperative Extension at Penn State and has collaborated with state organizations. Alter has served as a member on the editorial boards for the Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship, and the Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement.
Both Franklin and Alter were inducted into ACES and were each presented with a blown glass engagement trophy by ACES Board of Director’s president, Patricia M. Sobrero.
The ESC is a collection of universities and colleges working toward the advancement of scholarship and community engagement. As founding member, Penn State sees community-partnerships playing a crucial role in the higher education system. The University works hard to promote this concept both nationally and internationally, and they are proud to have faculty members receive acknowledgement for outstanding achievement in the field.
The ESC held their first conference in 1999. Penn State has acted as hosts in 2001, 2004 and 2008. Penn State will welcome the conference back to University Park in 2015.
For more information about sustainability at Penn State, visit www.sustainability.psu.edu.