Building a Higher Education Network for Community Engagement

The 2006 Wingspread Conference on Engagement in Higher Education convened twenty-eight formal and informal affiliate organizations, all of which focus on advancing the scholarship and impact of higher education's engagement with communities, to explore acting strategically as a "guild" with common interests and diverse capacities for the purpose of developing a blueprint for action to advance the engagement movement. One of the outcomes was a virtual confederation named HENCE (Higher Education Network for Community Engagement) that recognizes engagement as a core element of higher education's civic role. HENCE seeks to consolidate and advance research, practice, policy, and advocacy for engagement. Leaders can join national work groups, advance action plans, coordinate events, access data, and find new community engagement models. [author]