Jay Brandenberger, director of research and graduate student initiatives at the Center for Social Concerns, has been appointed to the additional role of director of academic community engagement at the University of Notre Dame for a two-year term. He succeeds Mary Beckman, who served as the second director from the fall of 2015 until the spring of 2018.
In his new role, Brandenberger will help facilitate and promote engagement between Notre Dame faculty and community partners involved in community, social, cultural, human and economic development. He was appointed by the Community Engagement Coordinating Council (CECC), a body established in 2011 to deepen the culture of engagement between Notre Dame and its many community partners. He has been a member of the CECC since it was established.
“After 27 years of community-based research and teaching at the Center for Social Concerns, Jay is well positioned to lead the University’s efforts to assess and enhance the degree to which community engagement at Notre Dame helps fulfill the University’s academic vision,” said Rev. Kevin Sandberg, C.S.C., Leo and Arlene Hawk Executive Director of the Center for Social Concerns. “His concurrent leadership of Notre Dame’s effort to renew its Carnegie Community Engagement Classification provides a perfect platform toward this end.”
The CECC works with each college and school, the Center for Social Concerns, the Office of Public Affairs, and other University units to coordinate, support, and communicate community engagement efforts, including engaged scholarship, relevant economic development efforts, and outreach activities.
“I appreciate the opportunity to build on the good work of the CECC and many thoughtful colleagues,” said Brandenberger. “This year, we’ll have the opportunity to enhance our work through comprehensive efforts to complete the University’s application to the Carnegie Foundation for classification as a community engaged institution.”
In his current role at the center, Brandenberger directs research initiatives and graduate student programs while working with colleagues to examine the developmental outcomes and best practices associated with center courses and programs. He is the editor of the center’s Research Report Series and facilitates ongoing longitudinal research focusing on the moral and ethical outcomes of community engagement. He is a concurrent associate professor in the Department of Psychology, a fellow of the Institute for Educational Initiatives, and a past recipient of the Notre Dame Frank O’Malley Undergraduate Teaching Award.
Contact: JP Shortall, Center for Social Concerns, 574-631-3209, james.p.shortall.1@nd.edu
Originally published by at conductorshare.nd.edu on August 28, 2018.