The Center for Excellence in the Arts and Humanities hosted a Community Engaged Research Workshop Day on April 3, 2026. An initiative taken by CEAH's interim director Dr. Sarah Kyle, the workshop's goal was to address strategies for aligning arts and humanities research with community needs and interests, creating opportunities for meaningful public engagement and impact. "I’ve designed this workshop, partnering with Faculty Fellow Jane Rongerude (Urban Planning & Design, College of Design), to help us as humanists, designers, artists, and, well, as academics who live in Iowa to think about outreach and community engagement more flexibly. Doing so, we can better advance the land grant mission with an eye to disciplines that traditionally may not have been as readily associated with community engagement or outreach", says Dr. Kyle.
The workshop consisted of 5 panels in total divided into Morning and Afternoon sessions, with the keynote lecture titled "Who is Invited? Community-Engaged Research and the Publicly Engaged University". Dr. Rachel Berney who is the Associate Professor and Director of Urban@UW, at the University of Washington, Seattle joined the workshop as the keynote speaker.
Other sessions included "Community-Engaged Research Practices at ISU" where faculties met with ISU scholars and artists whose research and creative practices involve aspects of CER. Panelists included Jennifer Drinkwater (Associate Professor, Art and Visual Culture, College of Design and Community Arts Specialist, ISU Extension & Outreach), Scott Samuelson (Professor of Practice, Philosophy & Religious Studies, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences and Community and Economic Development, ISU Extension & Outreach: Public Humanities), Pamela Riney-Kehrberg (Distinguished Professor, History, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences).
"Working with Community Partners", where panelists included community partners, whose work helps to bridge the divide between scholars working at universities and public programs happening across the state such as Heather Plucar (Executive Director, Humanities Iowa), Grace Altenhofen (Communications & Grants Director, Humanities Iowa), Nathan Beacom (Executive Director, The Lyceum Movement, Des Moines), Andrew Klumpp (Education & Public Programming, State Historical Society of Iowa) and David Schmitz (Interim Academic Engagement Coordinator, ISU University Museums).
"How to take First Steps in CER" with Erin Olson-Douglas (College of Design Associate Dean for Extension and Outreach and Director for Community + Economic Development), Sandra Norvell (Grants Coordinator, IDRO & LASERS), Rob Pfaff (Assistant Professor, Urban Planning and Development, College of Design) and the Digital Scholarship & Repository, Parks Library with Michael Cummings (Digital Scholarship Librarian) and Anne Shelley (Digital Repository Services Librarian).
The final session "Mission and Metrics: Aligning What We Value with How We are Evaluated" focused on best practices for recognizing community-engaged scholarship in the promotion and tenure process. Dr. Berney lead a conversation with the panelists to discuss emerging strategies for documenting the impact of community-engaged work and practical approaches to updating Promotion & Tenure guidelines, so they more fully align with ISU’s land grant mission. Panelists included James Reecy (Professor of Animal Science, Associate Vice President for Research), Carly Manz (Teaching Professor, Associate Chair for Teaching, Faculty Senate, Faculty Development and Administrative Council Chair), and Gary Taylor (Professor of Urban Planning & Development, Extension Specialist, Faculty Success Advisor).
