The Faculty Engaged Scholars program is an initiative of the Carolina Center for Public Service to advance faculty involvement in engaged scholarship. Dr. Ronald Strauss serves as faculty director and Mr. Melvin Jackson as community director. On March 26, 2013, H. Holden Thorp, UNC’s chancellor, was honored with the establishment of the Chancellor Holden Thorp Faculty Engaged Scholars Endowment. The endowment, created with a $1 million gift from an anonymous donor, names and supports the Faculty Engaged Scholars program.

Program Goals

The goals of the program are to:

• Recognize and reward faculty involved in engaged scholarship.
• Create and sustain a community of engaged scholars from diverse perspectives.
• Promote engaged scholarship at UNC-Chapel Hill across disciplines.
• Continue to build UNC-Chapel Hill as an institution committed to and demonstrating strong university-community relationships.

Curriculum

Scholars participate in a highly interactive, experiential and competency-based curriculum involving field visits, exposure to a number of ongoing projects and discussions with community members and faculty partners. Sessions address such topics as funding and dissemination of engaged scholarship, navigating disciplinary expectations while addressing community needs, and partnering with local communities in North Carolina and beyond.

Scholar selection

A faculty committee selects eight to 10 faculty members every other year to participate in the two–year program aimed at learning about and pursuing community engagement through scholarly endeavor. Since the program began in 2007, 33 faculty members have been selected from nine schools and 20 departments to participate in the program. For information about the participants, see current and previous scholars.

The next class of Faculty Engaged Scholars will be selected in spring 2014, please check back for details on the application process.