Limitations

The post hoc nature of the multi-method case study evaluation used in this study poses a few important limitations. In the absence of pre- and post-assessments of faculty/staff perceptions, it is difficult to measure causality. Moreover, such preordinate protocols for the case study evaluation would have theoretically enhanced both the evaluative power and the generalizability of the study’s results. However, to strengthen the trustworthiness of the study findings, the researchers employed triangulation of multiple sources of data—including relevant program and organizational documents, quantitative analysis of survey data from faculty/ staff, and application of a logic-model derived framework for assessing institutional indicators. In addition, the findings of this analysis were submitted for member checks by various stakeholders. Still, the results of this study find their strongest application within the university for self-study and continuous improvement. Community' engagement is a complicated phenomenon that is sensitive to peculiarities of context related to both the institution and the community' itself. Furthermore, our findings regarding professional development and institutional growth with this case cannot be simply transferred to other universities without careful analysis of the shared features of place, history, organizational structure, program design, baseline faculty/staff dispositions, and institutional mission.

Implications for Practice

This chapter reports data and discussion from a case study evaluation of the implementation of CYTI at Campbell University' in order to disseminate

Re-membering the Mission 47 lessons learned both from the project itself and from the attempt to evaluate the project’s institutional impact. Universities—especially religiously affiliated institutions—should consider opportunities to highlight and harmonize community-based service projects as explicit expressions of personal purpose and corporate mission. Even for non-religious universities, shared identity and commitment to the organizational mission could be strengthened by reflectively articulating the relationship between research, teaching, and service to the fundamental mandates of the mission. With CYTI, the curricular need to frame community-based service projects within a personal sense of calling and the faith-driven mission of the university seems to have reinforced the sense of purpose and solidarity amongst the faculty and staff who contributed to CYTI. Additionally, the cross-sector collaborations and progressively robust structural support for CYTI creates ideal conditions for coordinating assets for community engagement. Although not an exact template, the implementation offers examples of approaches that might be useful to other universities seeking to synthesize service activities in the community.

In addition to the project itself, our attempt to understand and evaluate the impact that the project was having on the institution unearthed some opportunities and challenges that are likely relevant for other institutions. Internal and external stakeholders (university administrators, accrediting bodies, community partners, and hinders) tend to require evaluation plans for community engagement programs that measure effectiveness in meeting specific community improvement targets and student experiences, especially impacts on student learning. Rarely do evaluation plans for community engagement programs explicitly assess the experiences of faculty/ staff and the impact on the institution. Many of the challenges faced in assessing the impact of CYTI on the faculty/staff and organizational structures of Campbell University stemmed from the lack of relevant data from the original evaluation plan. Universities would do well to begin routinely incorporating assessment of the experiences of faculty/staff and measurement of the impact on organizational structures as a part of the evaluation plan for community engagement projects. Funders might also begin requiring these types of evaluation plans for grant proposals, alongside requirements for outcomes for the community and for learners. In the long run, the sustainability of community engagement initiatives as well as the quality of educational experiences in service-learning are likely to be driven by these institutional factors more than the outcomes of single iterations of projects or the performance of select cohorts of students.

Universities operate as complex organizations with accountability to a wide range of commitments. Community engagement offers great potential for simultaneously enhancing many of the domains of activity for academic institutions. For the community and for the university, community-based service-learning becomes transformational only when integrative and sustainable (Johnson et al., 2009). This case suggests that the braiding of theological reflection on vocation with an intentionally interdisciplinary community engagement project offers institutions of Christian higher education a powerful opportunity to re-member the various parts of the corpus academic. Going further, the benefits of consciously aligning the university’s community engagement efforts go well beyond the campus by nurturing respectful and meaningful town-gown relationships. Centered on corporate mission as an expression of personal calling, the diverse and complex university becomes an accessible partner to the community—coordinated in its efforts, focused in its impact, and accountable to its most noble purpose.