Relationships, relevancy, and value: assessing community partners' perceptions of engagement with higher education

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dc.contributor.authorLever, Ginger Hobbs
dc.contributor.chairTuthill, George F.
dc.contributor.otherMoore, Daniel
dc.contributor.otherNorris, Kathleen
dc.date.accessioned2020-12-08T16:14:22Z
dc.date.available2020-12-08T16:14:22Z
dc.date.issued11/3/2011
dc.descriptionExternal stakeholders affect higher education's academic, civic, and operational functions. Understanding community needs and expectations has become more important as colleges and universities have faced increasing demands for accountability, innovation, and evidence of economic and social value. Community engagement has emerged as one response to address these challenges and opportunities and created a unique class of external stakeholders. The purpose of this mixed method study was to explore the nature of relationships between higher education and a discrete population of community stakeholders who had been involved in engagement activities with Campus Compact for New Hampshire members. Three conceptual models guided the data analysis: stakeholder identification, profiles, and salience; higher education's level of commitment to engagement; and partnership satisfaction. Stakeholders perceived their campus-to-community collaborations as positive experiences, notwithstanding the challenges of communication, partnership development, relationship building, and resources. They perceived that they did have some influence on higher education and that collaboration was beneficial to the individual community partners and to their organizations. The findings also identified differences among community partners' levels of satisfaction with different types of college and university partners. Four conclusions emerged from this study. First, community partners were predisposed to meaningful collaboration. Second, the underlying structural and operational differences between higher education and community partners are potential threats to future engagement. Third, community partners expect higher education to fulfill its social responsibility and to lead the search for solutions to social problems. Forth, sustainable collaboration requires institutional commitment, leadership, and integration across the organization.
dc.description.abstractElectronic Thesis or Dissertation
dc.identifierpsu-etd-061
dc.identifier.legacyhttps://digitalcommons.plymouth.edu/etd/61
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12774/294
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
dc.subjectengagement
dc.subjectstakeholder
dc.subjectpartnerships
dc.subjectcollaboration
dc.subjectservice-learning
dc.subjectengaged scholarship
dc.subjectcivic engagement
dc.subjectsocial responsibility
dc.subjecthigher education
dc.subjectleadership
dc.subjectsocial entrepreneurship
dc.subjectsocial responsibility
dc.titleRelationships, relevancy, and value: assessing community partners' perceptions of engagement with higher education
dc.typetext
dc.typeelectronic thesis or dissertation
etdms.degree.disciplineDepartment of Educational Leadership, Learning, and Curriculum
etdms.degree.grantorPlymouth State University
etdms.degree.leveldoctoral
etdms.degree.nameDoctor of Education in Learning, Leadership, and Community
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