Abstract

This qualitative study examines the perceptions of faculty and administration of the value of service-learning in the promotion and tenure process at Minnesota State University, Mankato, a midsized, Midwestern public university. The study aims to determine the answers to three main questions: what barriers and logistical issues do faculty face? Is the scholarship of community-engagement recognized and considered equal to other forms of traditional scholarship? Does MSU, Mankato value service-learning in the promotion and tenure process? The researcher employed a phenomenological study to answer the research questions. He used semi-structured interviews of ten participants – nine full-time tenure-track faculty who utilize service-learning as a teaching method, and a dean who supervises community-engaged faculty. The main themes identified in the interviews showed that the community-engaged faculty face many barriers to implementing service-learning programs. These barriers include difficulty in finding community partners, too much additional work, and lack of support from the university. Community-engaged scholarship is not valued and recognized as much as the faculty participants would like for it to be, and service-learning is not valued as much as more traditional forms of scholarship in the tenure and promotion process.

Advisor

Beatriz DeSantiago-Fjelstad

Committee Member

Antonia Felix

Committee Member

Julie Carlson

Date of Degree

2022

Language

english

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Program of Study

Educational Leadership

Department

Educational Leadership

College

Education

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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