NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE: Sept. 9, 2013
CONTACT: Megan Ketterer, megan.ketterer@ttu.edu
(806) 742-2136
Texas Tech Hosts Annual National Academic Conference
Texas Tech University will host the 14th annual national conference of the Engagement Scholarship Consortium (ESC) Oct. 8-9 in the Student Union Building and McKenzie-Merket Alumni Center. A pre-conference will be held Oct. 6-7 at the Overton Hotel.
University faculty, staff, higher education administrators, undergraduate and graduate students, and community partners are invited to attend the event.
The conference theme is “Boundary Spanning: Engaged Scholarship Across Disciplines, Community and Geography.” The conference will focus on the social, economic and educational differences university-community engagement makes. It features more than 200 presentations on the scholarship and practice of engagement in higher education.
“We are honored to host a prestigious national conference where discussions featuring varying aspects of community engagement will occur,” said M. Duane Nellis, Texas Tech president. “Texas Tech is thrilled to be involved with the event as the university continues to emerge as a national research institution with a growing diverse population.”
Conference strands include global engagement, community development and regional prosperity, pre-k-to-graduate education, human relations and wellbeing, health and health care, sustainable environments and natural resources, and assessment and evaluation. The Association of Public Land-grant Universities will present their nationally recognized Engagement Scholarship/W.K. Kellogg Awards during the conference. Leading international scholars in service learning and community engagement will be featured during the conference as well.
“We deeply appreciate the strong organizational support and diverse conference program components developed by the Texas Tech team and the partner institutions,” said ESC President Hiram Fitzgerald of Michigan State University. “Community-university partnerships are what ESC institutions are committed to in their efforts to co-create sustainable solutions to many societal problems in education, health, social behavior, child and family life and economic development. All attendees also are looking forward to learning firsthand about West Texas hospitality during some of the special evening events.”
Barbara Holland, an international scholar and specialist in community engagement in higher education, will speak at the event. She will discuss trans-discipline work and boundary spanning across disciplines in higher education.
Laura Ruiz, an education for development director at the Virtual University at Tec de Monterrey in Mexico, will also speak at the conference. She will discuss community learning centers and boundary spanning across communities and geography.
Pre-conference workshops and events include a race, ethnicity and community engagement symposium, an emerging engagement scholars workshop, an outreach and engagement staff workshop, and guided tours highlighting university-community partnerships.
Early registration and reduced rates for community partners and students are available. For more information, visit http://engagementscholarship.org/conference/esc-2013-meeting.
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CONTACT: Birgit Green and Valerie Paton, conference co-chairs, Texas Tech University, (806) 834-2308, birgit.green@ttu.edu or valerie.paton@ttu.edu.
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