Outreach and Engagement

Goal 3. Outreach and Engagement.
Work both through college-based strategies and with University of Idaho Extension offices to extend the expertise housed in the College of Letters, Arts & Social Sciences to the public, private, and non-profit sectors in counties across the state.

Context: Our many programs add value to the lives of constituents and stakeholders throughout Idaho. We engage in many outreach activities that are under-recognized as such. These include public performances in music and theater, speaker series (e.g., the Martin Forum series, McClure lectures, and Borah Symposium), humanities fellowships and related colloquia and workshops, and so on. As part of a land-grant institution, we have a responsibility to communicate our teaching and scholarship across the state and the region. We seek to broaden outreach and engagement in CLASS, to make our stakeholders more aware of our value to them, and to link our academic areas to interested parties beyond the campus.

Objective A: Better connect the college to those parts of the university that can tell our story (e.g., University Communications, University Extension, and University Centers). Strengthen our presence statewide through distance and UI Center degree and certificate programs.

Strategies:

1. Develop a CLASS-specific “Experts Guide” formatted for easy distribution in both print and web form to UI Centers and Extension offices across the state.
2. Communicate our many existing CLASS outreach efforts to these offices via regular e-mail updates, highlighting in particular when broadcast versions (web, cable television, or DVD) are available.
3. Appoint an Associate Dean in Coeur d’Alene to monitor successful programs there, and to represent the college with northern Idaho constituencies.

Objective B: Deliver undergraduate, graduate, continuing professional education, and other academic enrichment opportunities to life-long learners.

Strategies:

1. Centralize CLASS outreach efforts by creating a regularly maintained database of our many symposia, forums, and other public talks by expanding CLASS News on the college website to include a calendar of events.
2. Provide course releases for development of distance education courses.
3. Modify faculty appointments, position descriptions, and reward structures to foster distance education course instruction and make it a central part of the life of CLASS departments; similar modification may be made regarding involvement in other outreach programs.
4. Encourage departments to develop and deliver courses on the Coeur d’Alene campus. Examine the feasibility of additional distance certificate and non-degree programs.