Faculty to showcase innovative approaches to community engagement at international conference

Jerald Walz, an assistant professor in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, is on a mission to explore creativity and problem-solving in all its forms.

“Working with others who have a different creative style is highly beneficial, but it can also cause challenges with communication, trust, and working together,” he said. “Nevertheless, armed with insight and understanding, individuals can learn to cope with others and leverage their creative styles to help the group, team, or organization successfully address the challenge that brought them together.”

On Oct. 8-9, he’ll take his insights to the 2024 Engagement Scholarship Consortium (ESC) Conference in Portland, Oregon, where scholars from around the world will gather to explore how universities can collaborate with communities to create meaningful change. The annual conference will spotlight innovative projects that blend teaching, research, and community engagement to tackle complex, real-world challenges.

In his presentation, “Using Adaption-Innovation Theory to Engage Communities and Build Sustainable Futures,” Walz underscores a simple truth: We all have creative potential, but we express it differently. Some thrive within the boundaries of established systems, while others break those boundaries to create new paths.

Walz regularly works with individuals, groups, teams, and organizations to provide insight into how they might address complex challenges. One of those ways is through the Adaption-Innovation Theory, which examines the differences in the thinking style of individuals and how those differences can affect their creativity, problem-solving, and decision-making.

Solving complex problems requires collaboration, especially across creative divides, Walz said. But working with different styles isn't always easy — it can challenge communication, trust, and teamwork. Yet, with awareness and understanding, those differences become strengths.

Walz believes this theory holds universal relevance for anyone tackling real-world challenges. He sees his work at Virginia Tech as an extension of the university’s mission to engage with communities, using cutting-edge research to foster innovation and collaboration, whether in classrooms or community halls.

“I appreciate Virginia Tech’s land-grant mission that thrusts scholars into communities to work and apply the insight gained from world-class research and cutting-edge practice. Whether I’m in the classroom, board room, conference center, fellowship hall, or anywhere people join together to solve problems, I enjoy taking A-I theory and equipping them to apply their creativity successfully,” he said.

Walz is also eager to connect with like-minded scholars, those who seek to take academic insights beyond the ivory tower, applying them in the messy, dynamic environments where real change happens.

Several other scholars and faculty members from Virginia Tech will also present their work at the conference on topics that include global sustainability, interdisciplinary gaps, and student community engagement. 

Blending global thinking with local action

Grant Hamming, director of Rhizome Living-Learning Community, is committed to blending global thinking with local action. His work centers around a living-learning community designed to prepare students to tackle complex global issues using systems thinking, design thinking, and the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals as guides. With 100 students from diverse disciplines, Rhizome equips them to address real-world challenges.

Hamming wants to show how community-engaged learning can be integrated into general education. He recently secured a Pathways grant to align Rhizome’s courses with the university’s Pathways General Education curriculum, allowing students to earn credits while developing critical skills. His goal is to enhance the educational experience while reducing students’ curricular load.

“Our students are increasingly busy. We ask them to fulfill major requirements, general education curricula such as Pathways, as well as to participate in experiential and project-based learning. By aligning Rhizome’s courses with Pathways, I hope to enrich my students’ experiences while also easing their curricular burden,” Hamming said.

He hopes his presentation serves as a model for other institutions, demonstrating how project-based learning can be woven into general education. And he’s eager to connect with educators who share a commitment to community engagement and moving beyond the art and design conferences where he’s previously shared his work.

Choosing the right strategy

Amin Farzaneh, a doctoral student affiliated with the Institute for Policy and Governance who also works as a research assistant with the School of Public and International Affairs, is focused on helping researchers and practitioners navigate the complexities of community engagement. His presentation, “Selecting Appropriate Methods for Creative Community Engagement,” dives into the challenges of choosing the right engagement strategies. Farzaneh provides an evaluative framework based on factors such as available resources, goals, skills required, and the impact on power dynamics.

The key message? To achieve meaningful community engagement, it’s crucial to select methods that align with the project’s goals and involve participants in a purposeful way. When the wrong methods are used, engagement efforts can fall flat, failing to meet expectations. Farzaneh believes that understanding a range of engagement strategies is vital for effective collaboration.

His presentation is linked to the Impactful Community Engagement and Planning project, a three-year collaboration between the Institute for Policy and Governance and the Alleghany and Roanoke City Health Districts. The project aims to improve outreach to marginalized communities in collaboration with public health districts.

“The ESC conference will provide me with the valuable insights and fresh ideas, adding great value toward my knowledge about contemporary research methods and practical approaches toward community engagement,” he said.

Building collaborations

Eunju Hwang, an associate professor in the Department of Apparel, Housing, and Resource Management, is passionate about fostering reflection and collaboration among faculty engaged in service learning. Hwang and Aparna Shah, assistant professor in the School of Neuroscience, will help present, “Charting Pathways for Sustainable Community-Engaged/Service Learning” at the ESC conference.

Their presentation will focus on the value of group reflection that came from the 2023-24 VT Engage Faculty Fellows cohort, an interdisciplinary group who worked together to develop and teach community-engaged projects.

“I am excited to represent Virginia Tech and the VT Engage Faculty Fellows team,” Hwang said. “In the Universal Design course that I teach, I hope to develop intergenerational activities that students can contribute to local communities practicing age-friendly initiatives.  Then, when Virginia Tech hosts ESC in Roanoke in 2025, the students in Universal Design can showcase their intergenerational engagements with local communities including Roanoke.”