The rebirth of spring is upon us. 

I am experiencing this at my home with the recent birth of two baby goats on my family’s small farm. We also are experiencing this at PSE, as we emerge from two years of pandemic-induced disruptions, which drastically impacted the manner in which we could connect with one another, with a renewed commitment to the academic integration of community engagement at UC Davis.

These past few years have been particularly challenging for those who are involved with community-engaged work because of how essential relationship building and in-person interaction is to their research, teaching, and learning. Less than a year after the launch of Public Scholarship and Engagement’s strategic implementation plan, we had to pivot and adjust to the changes of the world while still upholding our three-part mission to “champion, convene and connect” faculty, students, and communities. While it has at times proven challenging, we—like so many of you—were determined to find a way to ensure our public scholarship work could continue and we could support relationships between communities and scholars. 

Much of our work during this time has been behind the scenes, but we are now at a point where we can begin sharing the fruits of our labor with all of you, including introducing two new initiatives: Community Campus Connect and the University of California Public Engagement Database.

Community Campus Connect

Community Campus Connect (CCC) will be a match-making service to help people within UC Davis and individuals from surrounding communities and beyond find one another for collaborative partnerships. For communities, this service aims to help nonprofit organizations, government agencies, business and community groups navigate the university to find collaborative opportunities around research, teaching, and technical assistance. For faculty and staff, this service will help individuals to discover potential community partners for the same purposes. 

The timing of PSE creating CCC could not be better. In partnership with amazing staff leaders in Student Affairs and others, PSE is serving in a coordinating role in the roll out of the Sacramento Valley College Corps that will provide up to 1,000 students from UC Davis, Sacramento State, and various community colleges in our region with paid service opportunities in critical issue areas such as climate action, K-12 education and food security.

When it launches in a few weeks, PSE will be using CCC to help establish university-community partnerships for every campus partner in the Sacramento Valley College Corps. PSE is proud to serve in this capacity, helping to connect students with community partners in support of expanding community experiential learning opportunities.

Public Engagement Database

Additionally, in partnership with Government and Community Relations,  we created a database to house information about publicly engaged and impactful programs and opportunities at UC Davis, called the University of California Public Engagement (UCPE). This database, which is now live, creates an easy-to-use platform for UC Davis colleges and schools, faculty and staff who are involved with publicly-facing initiatives and programs to contribute, document, and analyze this data. This system will allow us to better collate and quantify the outcomes of our public impact through robust information and data collection. Please make sure your and your department’s work in public scholarship is included in our database by filling out this form. 

As we all emerge from the doldrums of winter and into a world anew, we hope you will consider connecting with PSE.

In community,

Michael Rios
Vice Provost, Public Scholarship and Engagement