









































Vol. 1, Issue 1


Vol. 1, Issue 1 

 

 

ENGAGE!  2019 Vol. 1 No. 1 https://doi.org/10.18060/23221 

Copyright © 2019 Author(s). 

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

 

SPEAKING UP, SPEAKING OUT: GRADUATE STUDENT VOICES 

KEVIN HILLMAN AND JOSEPH FELDMAN 

 

Kevin Hillman and Joseph Feldman are students in IUPUI’s Urban Education Studies doctoral program. They 
responded to the editors’ questions:

Editors: What are your understandings of 
community engaged scholarship? 

As doctoral students, our understanding is influenced 
and grounded by collaborative engagement research as 
discussed by Post et al. (2016). We referenced their 
work throughout our response because it helped us to 
articulate our thoughts. Much of the research literature 
can be “over the top” for beginning grad students. For 
example Post et al suggest,  

Collaborative engagement research is 
distinctive in its orientation for the 
following 
primary reasons: 
(a) the 
recognition that 
researchers are 
equally based in 
the community 
and in academia 
and that they are 
co-researchers 
who have their 
own knowledge 
and expertise 
base; and (b) the research process’s 
deliberative approach, in that it aims to 
be fully democratic in an effort to 
address real-world problems. (pp. 79-80) 

Community-engaged scholarship can break down 
barriers between universities and communities, 
valuing the knowledge and assets of those present at 
the table. Viewing community members as experts 
strengthens the relationship, dispelling the notions of 
the ivory tower university researcher and the “helpless” 
community that needs to be saved. This helps in 
addressing and balancing power dynamics, creating a 
more equitable environment where community 
members have a voice in every step of the process. In 
turn, community members will feel empowered and 
less coerced, transitioning from the position of test 
subjects to collaborators. Post et al further state,  

Where 
collaborative 
engagement 
teaching and 
learning transcend 
the boundaries of 
the classroom, 
collaborative 
engagement 
research 
transcends the 
boundaries of 

traditional academic research. It involves 
shared and equitable decision-making 
that leads to equitable ownership for the 
research process, which is imperative for 
meaningful and relevant answers to 

https://doi.org/10.18060/23221
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/


Vol. 1, Issue 1 Graduate Student Voices 

48 

research questions. This, in turn, can lead 
to social change.  (pp. 79-80) 

Addressing real-world problems through a 
community-engaged approach is important in 
combating the stratification that exists in our society. 
In order to be democratic in addressing these 
problems, the parties involved should be seen and 
treated as equal and valued. Being intentional about 
their presence and role creates an atmosphere for 
learning and change.  

Through the collaborative engagement 
research process, social and cultural 
change inherently take place. Social 
change and cultural change occur as 
people affected by the research problem 
become involved in the process because 
they, by virtue of their lived experience, 
have a greater knowledge of the problem 
as well as the possible solutions. Their 
involvement in the research is necessary 
so that they might also become part of 
the resulting change process. (Post et al, 
pp. 79-80) 

Influenced by our understanding of collaborative 
engagement research, we believe that community-
engaged scholarship facilitates and informs 
partnership development and reciprocity between the 
university and community. These reciprocal 
relationships help to ensure that those involved have 
power over the decision making process, which 
facilitates an end result that is sustainable by the 
community.  

As community members move from 
subjects of the research to co-
researchers and participate fully in the 
co-creation of knowledge, a resulting 
shift occurs in the existing hierarchal, 
academic-centric knowledge production 
system to more fully recognize the 
rights that co-investigators have to 
investigate and analyze their own lived 
experiences. In sum, collaborative 

engagement research combines 
community-driven priorities, shared 
equitable decision-making, and social 
and cultural change with the co-
creation of knowledge into a holistic, 
participatory, action-oriented research 
process. (Post et al, pp. 79-80) 

Community-engaged scholarship, as well as 
community-engaged research (CER), affords the 
opportunity to employ theoretical concepts into 
practice, praxis. Understanding praxis can be a 
challenge for graduate students, pushing our 
thinking beyond just “theory into practice” toward 
“theory into practice being transformative.” 
Through the transformational approach of praxis 
graduate students can begin to analyze and think 
more critically as to how we can make our systems 
and society socially just.  

Editors: What do you need to be prepared to 
conduct CER? 

Students and faculty interested in community-
engaged scholarship should approach it with a 
mindset that is conducive to this type of work. This 
is often done through intentional relationship 
building, which helps to engender trust between 
university and community. Future scholars need to 
realize that communities can and will identify the 
problems that are important to them and propose 
solutions to these problems. Therefore, scholars 
should not enter the research process from the 
stance of an expert who holds all of the knowledge 
and answers. Instead, there should be an openness 
to listening and learning from the community. 
Researchers valuing diverse perspectives and 
demonstrating a willingness to work alongside 
community members from various backgrounds 
will include populations whose voices have 
historically been silenced or excluded, such as 
linguistic and racially minoritized groups.  

In addition to the ways of thinking described 
above, as doctoral students, we also need an 
understanding gleaned from experienced 



Vol. 1, Issue 1 Graduate Student Voices 

49 

community-engaged scholars. Not only do we need 
access to literature on the topic, but we also need 
access to faculty that actively partake in 
community-engaged scholarship in order to 
further develop our CER abilities and provide us 
with opportunities to identify how community-
engaged concepts can be incorporated into our 
own research questions. We have come to 
understand that mentoring relationships with 
these faculty members are vital to doctoral 
students, since they can provide us with 
opportunities to participate in community-
engaged research while receiving invaluable 
guidance and feedback. This would allow us to 
better understand the relationship between theory, 
practice and our responsibilities to community. 

REFERENCES 

Post, M., Ward, E., Longo, N., Saltmarsh, J., Eatman, T., 

& Levine, P. (2016). Publicly engaged scholars. 

Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing, LLC. 


	References

