Call for Book Chapters: “Cocreating Practices of Access to Higher Ed Through Public Engagement"

Vernon Press invites book chapter proposals for the forthcoming edited volume titled “Cocreating Practices of Access to Higher Ed Through Public Engagement”, edited by Araceli Hernandez-Laroche and Katherine Ford.

The volume editors invite chapter proposals on co-creating diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives to retain students using the publicly engaged humanities.

One of the greatest and most urgent challenges facing American higher education institutions today is the recruitment and retention of BIPOC, first-generation, non-traditional and rural students. Colleges and universities must engage more holistically, proactively and multilingually with the families and communities of the students they seek to enroll, retain and prepare competitively for local / global economies and civic leadership. The publicly engaged humanities help bridge community voices and offer insightful perspectives of the real-time needs challenging neighborhoods and cities adjacent to higher education institutions. 

Proposals focused on diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging and wellness initiatives to retain students, especially those most impacted by the pandemic, are encouraged to be submitted. Possible retention strategies related to innovative honors programs, study abroad, innovative campus-wide initiatives, mentoring and advising student groups, digital and multilingual public humanities partnerships with local schools, community colleges, (bilingual) media and various civic partnerships for language justice, translation and community interpreting are all key. 

Possible contributions include (but are not limited to):

• Public humanities 
• Public scholarship 
• Language access 
• Collaborations with industry, nonprofit, community partners and government agencies 
• Public participation
• Civic engagement
• Innovative collaborations between the Humanities and other disciplines 
• Humanities and other disciplines 
• Engaged languages
• World languages and community engagement
• World languages and service learning
• Cultivating student civic leadership through culture 

Timeline:

Please submit an abstract of 300- 500 words with a bibliography of 5 possible references and an abbreviated CV to volume editors, Araceli Hernandez-Laroche hernan49@uscupstate.edu and Katherine Ford fordk@ecu.edu by February 15th