The theme of the conference is The Scholarship of Engagement: Dimensions of Reciprocal Partnerships.  Campus-community collaborations can take many forms and provide academic, social, civic, and economic benefits to a broad range of individuals and organizations. Reciprocity creates and sustains equitable partnerships that foster the mission, goals, and objectives of each constituent.  This conference will explore the variety of partnerships that flourish in educational institutions and their communities through service-learning courses, community-based research projects, and student-led multi-curricular activities.  The contributions of a variety of research approaches in building and sustaining such partnerships will be emphasized.  The conference brings together scholars and practitioners to discuss research topics in the study of service-learning and community engagement, including:

• Developing, fostering, and sustaining the student, faculty, and community partnership:  With the rapid growth of service-learning in K-12 and higher education and the increasing emphasis on community engagement, what opportunities have been developed to sustain mutually beneficial partnerships between community agencies and educational institutions?  How does research support these initiatives?
• Theoretical and/or conceptual understanding of the study of service-learning and community engagement:  What models of learning, partnership development, interpersonal relations, and systems functioning will support new research initiatives in service-learning and community engagement?  What methodological innovations will increase the sophistication of our research questions, data collection, and analyses and thereby increase the validity of research findings? 
• Disciplinary and interdisciplinary models in service-learning and community engagement: How do disciplinary and interdisciplinary studies involve service-learning and other community engagement efforts to create new research and programmatic initiatives?  What are the outcomes of such efforts for students, community, and faculty? 
• Faculty roles and rewards: How does interest in civic responsibility and community engagement challenge our assumptions about the traditional roles of K-12 teachers and higher education faculty?  How do faculty members gain appropriate recognition for creative efforts in engaged research and teaching? 
• Assessing the impact of community engagement scholarship on student achievement: How do service-learning and other community engagement experiences affect student academic achievement and civic attitudes?  What are desired student outcomes from such innovative offerings as experiential learning and service-learning courses, community-based research, group projects, and senior capstones/research projects?   How do we evaluate student progress toward these outcomes?
• The role of the academy in the global community: How can we prepare students for success in diverse environments, locally and internationally?  What roles do service-learning and community engagement play in the future of K-12 and higher education in the U. S. and throughout the world?  How can research inform these efforts?  

Deadline for Receipt of Proposals
To be considered, all proposals must be received via electronic submission by 11:59 p.m. (Central Time) Wednesday, March 19, 2008.  Incomplete proposal submission will not be reviewed.  All proposals will be evaluated by at least two reviewers.  Notifications of acceptance will be sent by May 30, 2008.

Important Note: Research must be at the center of all proposals submitted.  To be sufficiently competitive, proposals that focus on program descriptions, program evaluations, or “how-to” strategies must describe how the topics discussed will advance the nature, quality, and/or quantity of service-learning and community engagement research.  Pure descriptions of service-learning or other engagement programs are unlikely to be accepted unless they are accompanied by rigorous research and/or analysis that advance understanding and knowledge in the field.