Thank you for the support, input and guidance that led to the creation of our Implementation Framework, which involved over 1,000 faculty, staff, students, and community constituents. Public Scholarship for the Public Good provides a blueprint to realize goals and objectives to support and deepen publicly-engaged research, teaching, and learning at UC Davis. It is also the beginning of the university’s effort to “increase mutually beneficial community engagement and public impact,” one of three goals identified in Public Scholarship for the Public Good.

Since the implementation framework was finalized, a number of university investments have been made to support these efforts. Resources have been dedicated to establish Public Scholarship and Engagement (PSE) as a permanent unit within the Office of the Provost. This includes creating a new position of Vice Provost of Public Scholarship, making UC Davis the first campus in University of California system to do so. In addition, we hired a Director of Communications and Marketing and a Web Developer, and have opened recruitment for a Director of Engagement that will serve as a liaison to non-university groups and community constituents.

We are also well underway to achieving our ambitious “10 Actions in 35 days”:

• We developed the criteria for and invited select members to join the Community Engagement Advisory Committee and the Student Learning Advisory Committee. The primary roles of these committees are to provide guidance on the development, implementation and assessment of PSE’s programs and initiatives.
• We now have offices at the Aggie Square Launch space on Stockton Blvd in Sacramento. The space will serve as a physical hub to support engagement initiatives and projects with non-university partners. It features a flexible co-working area for UC Davis and non-university partners to showcase their latest innovations and collaborative projects, and can accommodate meetings for local community groups.
• We began accepting applications for the first cohort of the Community Engaged Learning Faculty Fellowship Program. This program, set to run January through June 2020, aims to support individuals working to fully integrate this learning approach into existing courses and new curricular experiences.
• We are working with the Center for Regional Change, Continuing and Professional Education, and Government and Community Relations to gather data in an effort to map all existing engagement activities in Sacramento and Yolo counties. The aim is to improve communication and coordination of these activities to better serve the larger Sacramento region.
• Lastly, a university wide working group will be convened in the coming months to assess and explore ways to achieve greater recognition of public scholarship within university policies, program reviews, and faculty recruitment, merit, advancement, and promotion reviews.

I invite you to join us as we move forward. Let’s imagine change and create impact, together!

In community, 

Michael Rios, Vice Provost of Public Scholarship