Engaged Universities: Lessons from the Land-Grant Universities and Extension

Engagement is the vogue of relevant scholars into the twenty-first century. Yet there are concerns that scholarly objectivity requires detachment from society. The American experience with scholarly engagement comes from Land-Grant universities and extension. The Land-Grant principle emerged from the mandate to the Land-Grant colleges to improve the nation’s agriculture. Agricultural science has been hugely productive because of the Land-Grant principle. The principle is general to all scholarship. The Land-Grant principle gives both intellectual and political power to engagement. Scholarship is made better substantially through the test of workability, a dimension of scholarly objectivity. The scholar is also made more skillful. The engagement making possible the test of workability makes the scholarship more relevant. Institutionalized access to the workable, relevant knowledge for those who need it generates substantial political power. At a time when universities, particularly public research universities, are seeking public support for more than their teaching, the strategies suggested by the Land-Grant principle are instructive.