NKU's process of Aligning for Public Engagement was launched in January 2006 with a presentation and distribution of a booklet, both entitled "Laying the Foundation." They were intended to clarify basic terminology and concepts associated with outreach and public engagement and begin what it is hoped will be a deep and fruitful discussion of how NKU can more meaningfully and effectively carry out its public engagement efforts.

Internal alignment is a common practice for organizations that are serious about achieving their goals, and most universities are internally aligned in a number of ways. However, few universities are as well aligned to support outreach and public engagement as they are to support teaching and traditional forms of scholarship, and NKU is no exception to this norm.

Even with all its achievements and recognition for public engagement, NKU is not yet as well aligned to support these activities as it is to support teaching and research. But, if it is to advance to the next level, the university must become more aligned to support public engagement while continuing to support other traditional faculty responsibilities. This realization is what led to the Aligning for Public Engagement initiative.

Dr. William Plater, executive vice chancellor and dean of the faculty of IUPUI, kicked it off with a presentation on January 18, 2006. A former skeptic about the relevance and importance of outreach and public engagement, in the past decade, Dean Plater has become a strong and widely published advocate of outreach and public engagement by all institutions of higher education.

Although he now encourages outreach efforts, Dean Plater remains strongly opposed to universities adopting a standardized, one size/style fits all approach to public engagement. Instead, he believes each university's approach to engaging its community should be uniquely based on its own values, history and mission, rather than being an imitation of what some other institution has achieved. For this reason, he was highly complimentary of NKU's efforts to hold wide-ranging, all-campus discussions of public engagement as a starting point for trying to become better aligned.

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Carole A. Beere, Ph.D.
Associate Provost for Outreach
beere@nku.edu
(859) 572-5917