A typology of institutionalization for university-community partnerships at American universities and an underlying epistemology of engagement

Universities have always had ambiguous relationships with the communities of which they are located. The many intentional university-community partnerships which have been established on American college campuses in recent years have forced universities, against their natural inclinations, to come “down to earth”. Although they are part of their particular ecological settings, these American universities are not limited to those settings. In fact, if they were, they would not amount to much as universities. Like their European predecessors, the work of modern American universities is by nature placeless. The professional professoriate has as its main focus knowledge: its preservation, transmission, application, and generation—none of which can be captured easily nor held in a single place. As a result, American universities fit uncomfortably into the rootedness of their local communities.; The university-community partnerships discussed in this study are newly-conceived cross-disciplinary, multi-stakeholder efforts that require non-traditional models of implementation and evaluation. Many are a response to the call for universities to apply their learning and research to relevant problems of consequence. Others represent an institution's attempt to survive in difficult urban surroundings. Still other partnerships originate from a university's obligation to lead by example and train future leaders. Three rationales are presented here as a way of discussing why these partnerships are established: survival/relevance, moral/civic, and epistemological. Partnerships with each of these rationales face institutional barriers to becoming a regular part of the culture of university life.; The question of institutionalization of this particular type of university-community partnership is relatively new. As a result, there is a dearth of research concerning the factors that might influence institutionalization. This study seeks to fill that void. It is not an evaluation but, rather, it is an investigation into the factors that might influence the successful institutionalization of university-community partnerships. After reviewing the history of university-community partnerships, surveying several applicable theories of institutional change, and discussing the most recent developments in university-community partnerships; the author presents two important factors which are seen as central influences on institutionalization: the extent to which the knowledge task of the university-community partnership corresponds to the most highly valued concept of knowledge at the university; and the positive alignment of the rationale for the partnership with the generally-accepted primary purpose of the university.; These two influencing factors are then explored through the use of three case studies which include a review of original grant proposals, semiannual reports, site-generated documents, site visits, and on-site interviews with university faculty/staff and community members who are involved in these partnerships. These institutionalization case studies of Community Outreach Partnership Centers funded by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development are presented as illustrative examples from which to learn. In analyzing the influences on institutionalization and the data presented in these case studies, a descriptive typology of university-community partnerships is offered along with an emerging epistemology of engagement which might support the institutionalization of university-community partnerships into the academic culture of American universities.