This research explored the power of dominant partnerships in promoting community development. Two local communities sited in a coastal West African town, recorded notable transformation as a result of their members' long-standing interaction with a famous close by higher education institution. With a sample of three hundred and seventy-two…

For most colleges and universities, community-engaged scholarship (CES) is a value that supports the public mission of academic institutions. However, shifting CES from a core value to a guiding principle requires demonstrable support and structural modifications to academic practices and policies. Through this reflective paper, I will propose…

The most pressing social problems facing humanity in the 21st century are what systems theorist Russell Ackoff referred to as "messes"--complex dynamic systems of problems that interact and reinforce each other over time. In this article, the authors argue that the lack of progress in managing messes is in part due to the predominance of…

The Catholic Church, with deep roots in the history of Latin America, exercises considerable influence on all levels of society. Especially after the Second Vatican Council and the bishops' conference at Medellin (1968) the Church took up the banner of human rights and the cause of the poor. During the dictatorships and in the midst of the…

Significant shifts are occurring in higher education pedagogy, research methodology, and community development, ones that value civic engagement and experiential learning as bridges to holistic education and sustainable social change. Engaged scholarship through university-community partnerships can result in providing a well-rounded education for…

The initiative for the Future of Rural Oklahoma was implemented as a pilot program in thirteen sites in Oklahoma to support rural communities that faced challenges on several fronts. The initiative emphasized engagement through local partnerships between a land-grant university and concerned community citizens. Additionally, the initiative…

Since the 1970s, participatory development has become part and parcel of most practitioner-oriented development studies programs. This reflects a shift in the field of development that has been going on for the past few decades. "Participatory Rural Appraisal" (PRA) is one approach to participatory development that has received much…

Bordering on North Carolina, the Dan River region of Southside Virginia is a largely rural area south of the state capitol, Richmond, and 135 miles east of Virginia Tech's main residential campus in Blacksburg. The structural problems evident today in this expanse of wooded areas, fields, small cities, and towns were born, in large measure, of the…

Individually and collectively, institutions of higher education possess considerable resources--human, fiscal, organizational, and intellectual--which are critical to addressing significant social issues. Additionally, these institutions are physically rooted in their communities. Therefore, investing in the betterment of their immediate…