Upcoming Events
Board Meeting
IARSLCE monthly board meeting
Click here for our procedures for requesting records and for inquiring about attending a board meeting.
Dissertation Dish
LEAD California, IARSLCE and GivePulse are proud to announce our next speaker:
Dr. Colette Ankenman, Ed.D. in Educational Leadership at Saint Mary's College of California
Moderator: Dr. Sarah Beth Dempsey, Director of Engaged Learning and Visiting Professor, School of Liberal Arts at Saint Mary's College of California
About our Next Speaker:
Colette Ankenman, Ed.D. is a research practitioner dedicated to positive youth development and community engagement. Her primary research interest is exploring the impact of nonformal service-learning and community engagement youth programming. She recently completed her Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from Saint Mary’s College of California and holds a Master of Science Degree in Child Development from UC Davis, and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Human Development and Family Studies and Consumer and Community Studies from the University of Utah.
Dissertation Topic: Authentic Youth Community Engagement in Nonformal Service-Learning and Community Engagement Programming
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to explore what programmatic aspects of a nonformal service-learning and community engagement (SLCE) program contributed to youth being authentically engaged in their communities and how youth participants define engagement. The program investigated was a high school leadership program for students who self-identified as women. Using a sequential explanatory mixed methods design, data was collected via surveys and semi-structured interviews. The quantitative data found that components of the Emergent Theory of the Role of Context in Service-Learning Practice Model (Fox & LaChenaye, 2016) were positively associated with participants’ engagement. Additionally, four interview themes emerged about what authentic engagement means to participants: applying learned materials, community and connections, empowered to make a difference, and unique times of COVID-19. Based on these findings and past research, three recommendations were created: the power of empowerment, community, and youth voice.
Board Meeting
IARSLCE monthly board meeting
Click here for our procedures for requesting records and for inquiring about attending a board meeting.
Board Meeting
IARSLCE monthly board meeting
Click here for our procedures for requesting records and for inquiring about attending a board meeting.
Board Meeting
IARSLCE monthly board meeting
Click here for our procedures for requesting records and for inquiring about attending a board meeting.
Board Meeting
IARSLCE monthly board meeting
Click here for our procedures for requesting records and for inquiring about attending a board meeting.
Board Meeting
IARSLCE monthly board meeting
Click here for our procedures for requesting records and for inquiring about attending a board meeting.
Board Meeting
IARSLCE monthly board meeting
Click here for our procedures for requesting records and for inquiring about attending a board meeting.
Board Meeting
IARSLCE monthly board meeting
Click here for our procedures for requesting records and for inquiring about attending a board meeting.
Board Meeting
IARSLCE monthly board meeting
Click here for our procedures for requesting records and for inquiring about attending a board meeting.
Board Meeting
IARSLCE monthly board meeting
Click here for our procedures for requesting records and for inquiring about attending a board meeting.
Request for Proposals Deadline
Read the complete RFP and submit a proposal to IARSLCE 2026 by March 18.
Dissertation Dish
LEAD California, IARSLCE and GivePulse are proud to announce our next speaker:
Dr. Laura Wilmarth Tyna, Director of Community Engagement and Experiential Learning and the Lewis University Community Schools Consortium (LUCSC) at Lewis University
Moderator: Dr. Tania Mitchell, Associate Provost for Community Engagement, Professor in Counseling, Higher Education and Special Education at University of Maryland
About our Next Speaker:
Dr. Laura Wilmarth Tyna serves as Director of Community Engagement and Experiential Learning and the Lewis University Community Schools Consortium (LUCSC) at Lewis University in the Chicagoland area. In this capacity, she works with local schools and community-based organizations to support community thriving by facilitating collaborative partnerships and resource sharing. She has served as a higher education community engagement professional for over 20 years.
Laura received a doctorate of education in student affairs administration and leadership from the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse in May 2025. Previously, she earned a master of arts degree in students affairs administration from the University of Maryland, College Park. Laura’s professional interests focus on anti-racist community engagement and P-12/ higher education partnerships.
Dissertation Topic: Anti-Racist Community Engagement Among White Faculty: An Emergent Model
Abstract: In an era when acknowledging race and diversity is viewed with hostility, researching and understanding more about that which fosters anti-racist practice and racial justice in community engagement is critical. Despite growing interest in anti-racist practices in service-learning and community engagement (SLCE), little is understood about why white faculty adopt anti-racist community-engaged pedagogy (ARCEP) and how they implement it effectively. The purpose of this grounded theory study was to explore the experiences of white-bodied anti-racist community engagement (ARCE) practitioners and how they came to understand and practice ARCEP. Findings suggest an emergent theory of ARCE among white faculty that can be used to combat the harm caused by racism and white supremacy perpetrated through SLCE. The theory underscores the significance of community and fostering ways of being which contribute to authentic relationships - between higher education and communities, between faculty and students, and among white colleagues holding each other accountable.
Board Meeting
IARSLCE monthly board meeting
Click here for our procedures for requesting records and for inquiring about attending a board meeting.
PSC application deadline
We are excited to offer our Practitioner-Scholar Community experience again in early 2026. The application will be live on January 12th and due January 31st, with the cohort beginning in mid-February.
Board Meeting
IARSLCE monthly board meeting
Click here for our procedures for requesting records and for inquiring about attending a board meeting.
Beyond the Usual Suspects: SLCE Scholarship in STEM
This interactive webinar will feature four scholar-practitioners whose service-learning and community engagement work is based in STEM fields. The webinar goes “beyond the usual suspects” in several ways. It features four women trained in traditionally male-dominated fields. It discusses scholarship that spans traditional disciplinary boundaries, integrating the arts, humanities, and sustainable development into STEM education and practice. And it shines a spotlight on community engagement in disciplines not well represented in the SLCE field. The speakers, who hail from all over the world and are at different stages in their careers, will describe their distinct pathways into this work, providing models and inspiration for others who seek to bridge the gap between SLCE and STEM. Please join us for what is sure to be a lively conversation with four remarkable women!
Board nominations deadline
IARSLCE invites its membership to consider service on the Board of Directors. Nominations will be open from September 15-October 15, 2025. The Association is seeking candidates dedicated to deepening the mission of IARSLCE, who bring expertise in areas that strengthen the Association's work, including events and conference planning, resource development, K-12, and/or STEM-related perspectives. Prior volunteer involvement with IARSLCE through the annual conference, committees, or special programming is strongly preferred.
Click here for more information.
Dissertation Dish
LEAD California, IARSLCE and GivePulse are proud to announce our next speaker:
Dr. Caitlin Ferrarini, Assistant Teaching Professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI)
Moderator: Erica Yamamura, Interim Executive Director, LEAD California
About our Next Speaker: Caitlin Osorio Ferrarini is a Ph.D. graduate of the University of Massachusetts Boston's College of Education. She has worked in the field of global experiential learning in Colombia and the United States as a field director, student advisor, professor, and researcher. Caitlin is passionate about better understanding and improving student global and civic learning through research and practice.
Caitlin recently joined Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s Global School as an Assistant Teaching Professor. She teaches a social science research methods course and advises students on project-based learning programs abroad. Her research interests include: global citizenship education; digital pedagogy; online learning; long-term student learning outcomes; community impact. Caitlin is the recipient of the 2025 Outstanding Dissertation Award from the American Association of University Administrators (AAUA).
Dissertation Topic: Examining the Potential of Online Community-Based Learning to Foster Global Citizenship Capacities in College Students: A Mixed-Methods Multi-Institutional Study
Abstract: This multi-institutional study examines the potential of fully online community-based learning to foster global citizenship in college students. A mixed-methods analysis of pre/post surveys (n = 187) and alumni interviews (n = 23) found that first-generation students participating in an online community-based learning program during the COVID-19 pandemic reported greater learning gains than their non-first-generation peers. The most influential program factor in shaping student learning and future actions was the development of trusting relationships with partner community members (i.e. mentors, peers, or community members). Recommendations include practical resources that global and civic educators can utilize in their own classrooms.
Demystifying Service Learning and Community Engagement Methodologies
This interactive workshop is designed to support faculty, staff, students and community partners in gaining clarity and confidence in using service-learning and community engagement (SLCE) as a research methodology. Participants will learn from leading scholars in the field who will share practical strategies and frameworks for designing rigorous, community-engaged research projects.
Through a guided panel discussion, attendees will explore how SLCE can advance scholarship, improve student learning outcomes, and create meaningful impact with community partners. The session will also introduce some best practices for integrating SLCE methodologies into research design and assessment.
This session is ideal for faculty, undergraduate and graduate students, staff, and community partners interested in incorporating SLCE into their teaching, research, and institutional initiatives.
Dissertation Dish
LEAD California, IARSLCE and GivePulse are proud to announce our next speaker:
Dr. Shilohna Phillanders
Moderator: Claire Mc Cann is currently Chair-elect of the Graduate Student Network of IARSLCE and a PhD candidate at the University of Oxford.
About our Next Speaker: Dr. Shilohna Phillanders is an internationally recognized educator, practitioner- scholar, and educational consultant whose work centers on service-learning, critical pedagogy, and socially responsive community engagement. Grounded in a commitment to social justice, her research and practice center on empowering learners and educators to interrogate and transform systemic inequities through experiential and community-rooted approaches. Guided by her commitment to equity and empowerment, Dr. Phillanders is laying the groundwork for a consultancy initiative that supports educators in emergent regions like the Caribbean, in embedding justice-centered, community-rooted pedagogies into transformative teaching and learning practices.
Dr. Phillanders holds a PhD in International Comparative Education from Beijing Normal University, China, and earned both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in International Relations and Global Affairs, respectively from The University of the West Indies. She also holds professional certification in NGO Professional Management, equipping her with cross-sectoral insight into community-based organizational leadership.
Her scholarship and practice focus on empowering learners through transformative, experiential education that addresses the root causes of systemic injustice, particularly within the Caribbean and other emergent regions. Dr. Phillanders has lectured at the university level in China with guest lectures in the Philippines, designed interdisciplinary curricula, and led international student engagement initiatives, all while advancing critical conversations around equity, identity, and power in education.
An advocate of qualitative and participatory methodologies, her expertise includes autoethnographic research, educator development, and student-centered support services. Among her scholarly contributions, one of her most personally meaningful is a chapter in the award-nominated volume Caribbean Quality Culture, Persistent Commitment to Improving Higher Education (2021) where she explores the transformative potential of service-learning and community engagement (SLCE) to enhance and support quality education in contexts such as the Caribbean, through asset-based approaches. Dr. Phillanders’ work is grounded in the belief that education must be a catalyst for liberation. With her commitment to critical scholarship and deep community partnerships, she continues to educate, engage, and empower; guiding institutions and individuals alike to imagine and enact more just futures.
Title: Echoes Between Us: Introducing Echo-Autoethnography as a Reflexive Method for Critical Pedagogy and Community Engagement
Abstract: This presentation introduces echo-autoethnography, a reflexive research methodology developed through my doctoral study in service-learning and community engagement (SLCE). Emerging at the intersection of critical pedagogy and narrative inquiry, echo-autoethnography expands traditional autoethnography by positioning the researcher-self not as a solitary source of meaning, but as a site reverberating with the echoes of community voices, collective memory, and the ethical tensions of engaged scholarship. Developed through my experience as a Caribbean practitioner-scholar navigating transnational academic terrains, this method captures the layered interplay of power, place, and positionality in shaping educational research. Echo-autoethnography centers relationships between self and others; between researcher and community, as foundational to knowledge production. It provides space to interrogate complicity, agency, and transformation, offering a justice-oriented alternative to extractive research practices and affirming reflexivity as essential to community-engaged pedagogical work.
Community Conversations Special Edition: A Conversation About New and Long-Standing Challenges Our Field Is Facing
IARSLCE Members are invited to join our special session of Community Conversations, a space to bring your scholarly ideas, problems of practice, and/or desire to connect with colleagues. There's no specific agenda for these gatherings. Rather, the agenda emerges from the priorities and questions that participants bring into the space. It's a great opportunity to have thoughtful discussions and exchange resources during these challenging times. Click here for the zoom link.
Global Research Agenda at University of California San Diego
May 30, 2025 from 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM PDT, In-Person at UC San Diego (USA)
This session will be a North America-focused meeting where participants will analyze and prioritize research questions that emerged from the data collection forums. actively engage in analyzing, organizing, categorizing, prioritizing a set of research questions and issues that colleagues in the field have submitted during 11 structured research data collection forums held over the last several years.
During the meeting, you will work in a small group, lending your perspectives on how best organize the research questions, what key themes the questions point to, and which themes and research questions should be prioritized. Your analysis and discussions will result in the production of the North America section of the global research agenda for service-learning and community engagement.
Register to confirm your interest in participating.
Hope as Resistance: Peer-to-Peer Dialogue on Navigating Community-Engaged Scholarship in Uncertain Times Vol. 2
Join fellow graduate students and early-career scholars for the 2nd installment of our supportive, peer-to-peer virtual dialogue series. We will share experiences, identify resources, and strategize collective responses to navigating community-engaged scholarship in uncertain times. Help shape future support efforts and our planned roundtable for IARSLCE 2025. Click here to register.
Setting a Global Research Agenda for Service Learning and Community Engagement: Data Collection
Purpose: the first of two input sessions for the Australia and New Zealand region on Wednesday, 14th of May from 12:00 PM – 3:00 PM AEST. This session will focus on gathering data and identifying the research questions that should shape future studies in SLCE.
A second session will be held in June (date and time to be confirmed), where we’ll focus on the analysis of the collected data. You are welcome to join one or both sessions—your voice is valuable regardless of whether you participate in the first, the second, or both.
IJRSLCE Vol. 13 Submission Deadline
The upcoming IJRSLCE Volume 13 submission deadline is 5/1/25. Click HERE for additional information and access to the panel discussion from last spring overviewing the submission and review process.
What’s Next for CEL? Charting the Course for Transformative Change
The University of Toronto's Centre for Community Partnerships is hosting a virtual plenary panel on April 23, 2025, from 2:30 to 4 p.m. EDT, celebrating 20 years of community-engaged learning. Panelists will reflect on the future of CEL, exploring its evolving pedagogy, the challenges ahead, and how CEL can respond to global crises. Click here to register.