Navigating Changing Maps for Public Engagement in Higher Education Contexts

Public engagement is becoming a critical element of U.S. universities’ missions. Defining public engagement has become increasingly complex, however, and navigating the significant and diverse literature on public engagement can be daunting. This essay addresses this challenge as well as two others that make public engagement difficult for those feeling called (or pressured) to perform such work. We draw on our own public engagement experience and research to (1) conceptually scope out the terrain of public engagement literature and approaches, (2) articulate how the emerging problems of rapid intensification and hyperpolarization in American political culture make public engagement work ever more challenging for both faculty and students, and (3) call attention to the ways universities are often not bureaucratically or structurally aligned to meaningfully support and advance public engagement work. We conclude with some recommendations for how faculty, staff, and administrators might navigate these concerns.