Transformative Engagement Process, (The): Foundations and Supports for University-Community Partnerships

This article describes one university's approach to transformative engagement: An engagement process based not on transfer of expertise from university to community (technology transfer), but rather on an interactive process in which all partners apply critical thinking skills to complex community problems. Iterative in nature, it is informed by a university-wide model of engagement built on the land-grant tradition and by grounded principles from the literature. University Outreach and Engagement (UOE) provides several modes of connecting for structural support. To be successful, partners must have appropriate and multiple ways of making and sustaining connections to each other and to information that will help them move through transformations. These modalities encompass individual and systemic connections in both face-to-face and electronic venues. The structures are designed to meet the needs of those engaged in partnerships while promoting evidence-based best practices in community agencies. [author]