Diving Deep in Community Engagement: A Model for Professional Development

In Summer 2013, a group of practitioner-scholars in higher education community engagement committed to developing a new resource to help guide professional development, career advancement, and unit guidance in the civic and community engagement field.

Through a collective process, they developed a framework of competencies for community engagement professionals.

These four areas, as outlined in the publication, are Organizational Manager, Institutional Strategic Leader, Field Contributor, and Community Innovator.

The purpose of the book is to support strategic professional development and it should be used to help community engagement professionals to reflect on their own practice and growth.

This reflective practice should be connected to wider discussions of how campuses can continue to institutionalize civic and community engagement, and the book provides concrete ways for community engagement professionals to link personal vocation to systemic change.