News 2020: UMass Dartmouth to host 2020 Engaged Scholarship Symposium

The Leduc Center for Civic Engagement event will focus on building and celebrating community

On February 28, from 12 – 2 p.m., the Leduc Center for Civic Engagement at UMass Dartmouth will host the 2020 Engaged Scholarship Symposium. The event will be held in the Robert F. Stoico/FirstFed Charitable Foundation Grand Reading Room in the Claire T. Carney Library on the UMass Dartmouth campus.

This year's keynote speaker is Lee Walton, an artist with an expanded practice. Walton’s art takes many forms and employs systems of chance, game structures, and participation to create interactions that build community, disrupt predictability, and celebrate the everyday. 

Walton has been commissioned by museums, institutions, and cities, both nationally and internationally, to exhibit, lecture, and lead participatory public events. Walton is a Professor of Art at UNC Greensboro, where he directs both the Graduate Program and the Interdisciplinary Arts and Social Practice program. Walton will share stories, pose questions, and spark conversation about community-engaged research as experience. What happens when institutions shift the center of research off-campus and into the public sphere - inviting the community to co-create, collaborate, and share knowledge? Research as experience aims to remind us what is "real", and through this, we can make meaningful connections, build community, and inspire social change. His projects can be viewed at www.leewalton.com. 

UMass Dartmouth faculty will also present their research. Presenters include Professor Maureen Hall (STEM Education & Teacher Development); Assistant Professor Eric Larson (Crime & Justice Studies); Professor Tara Rajaniemi (Biology), Associate Professor Michelle Bowers (Art & Design), and Assistant Director of Campus Sustainability & Residential Initiatives Jamie Jacquart; and Associate Professor Rachel Kulick (Sociology/Anthropology).

The Engaged Scholarship Symposium is designed to celebrate the usefulness of scholarship in shaping policy and enriching our communities. Participants will be exposed to strategies for involving students in active research and examples of engaged scholarship across many disciplines. The event is co-sponsored by the Leduc Center for Civic Engagement and the Campus Compact of Southern New England.

The event is free to attend, but space is limited and registration is required.