Community Engagement Abroad

Evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of community-engaged programming abroad poses great challenges to study abroad practitioners. Crawford and Berquist offer a very helpful framework as well as highly insightful program cases from one of the visionary trailblazers in this field—Michigan State University. This book provides the tools to inform a broad range of community-engaged programming design choices.

— Michael Grosspietsch, Executive Director, Global Engagement Institute

Countless personal testimonies attest that study abroad is a life-changing experience. Recent empirical evidence affirms these claims, suggesting that studying in another country qualifies as a developmentally powerful high-impact activity. Moreover, participating in a community-engaged service project while away tends to boost the positive benefits students realize. Doing international community-engaged service is complicated and challenging on many levels. Fortunately, the contributors to this timely, much-needed volume share valuable, insightful, and actionable lessons from the trenches to inform and guide this betterment work.

— George D. Kuh, Chancellor’s Professor Emeritus, School of Education, Indiana University

This collection provides a unique in-depth and longitudinal insight into one U.S. institution’s journey in considering and developing models for substantive, rigorous, and ethical engagement abroad. As an early pioneer and leader in short-term and faculty-led programs abroad, Michigan State University’s lessons learned and the case studies shared in this book provide an invaluable collection of perspectives from instructors and administrators alike. The many perspectives represented and questions asked result in a singular contribution to the international education field.

— Martha Johnson, Assistant Dean, Learning Abroad Center, Global Programs and Strategy Alliance, University of Minnesota