Franklin College Associate Professor of History and Director of Women’s Studies Meredith Clark-Wiltz, Ph.D., was selected as a Faculty Fellow by the Community-Engaged Alliance for the 2022-23 academic year. This year-long community experience is designed in the tenets of Boyer’s (1996) vision of the scholarship of engagement. Selected individuals serve a one-year term as part of a cohort with other engaged scholars from partner campuses. The team of selected scholars, led by a Senior Faculty Fellow, will work collaboratively on a scholarly project with one another and incorporate critical community engagement into their own faculty work.

The Faculty Fellows Program also includes a $5,000 grant to be used to help prepare college students to advance the public good. Clark-Wiltz will work with three Franklin College student interns during the spring 2023 semester to conduct research on three people connected to the Franklin College experience. “Each of these individuals will have made an important and lasting contribution to society,” explains Clark-Wiltz. “I will be assisted by one student for each of the three interviews. Those interviews will be completed at the Center for Tech Innovation, using the impressive resources there. This project will provide students an incredible undergraduate research opportunity that enhances their digital fluency, historical methods and professional development, while also generating a meaningful product for the campus and community.”

Following the research, Clark-Wiltz and her students will share the audio files and transcriptions with the Franklin College B.F. Hamilton Library and with the Johnson County Museum of History. “We also will share the work with the Johnson County Bicentennial Planning Committee,” says Clark-Wiltz.

Clark-Wiltz, who serves as the Franklin College history department chair and the Hon. Roger D. Branigin Endowed Chair in History, has also had the opportunity to work with fellow cohort members in writing a paper on community engagement scholarship. The group has submitted the piece for consideration to be included in a special edition of a field-specific journal, and they also plan to present the work at an upcoming conference.

“We are proud to have Dr. Clark-Wiltz on our faculty and are especially grateful for her commitment to community engagement and applied learning opportunities that center student learning,” said Kristin Flora, Ph.D., vice president for academic affairs and dean of the college. “Because of her work, history students at Franklin College have been involved in impactful projects such as the establishment of the Wonder Five historical marker, and now as a CEA Faculty Fellow, capturing oral histories of Franklin College as part of the Johnson County Bicentennial Celebration. These projects bring value to our community and are a great reflection of the engaged learning that is the hallmark of a Franklin College education.”

Clark-Wiltz earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Louisiana, her master’s degree from Bowling Green State University and her doctorate from The Ohio State University. She joined the Franklin College faculty in 2011. She is a resident of Franklin.

About Community-Engaged Alliance

Community-Engaged Alliance invests its partners through trainings, grants, and professional development. Through that support, administrators, faculty, staff, and community partners are able to make a difference for tens of thousands of community members and students each year.

Community-Engaged Alliance is the only organization in the state that works with all institutional levels (public, both large and small, independent, and two-year) as well as community partners. Our partnership is made up of institutions, organization, and individuals dedicated to engaged teaching and learning, the kind of learning that stays with students as they transition into life after college. For more information, please visit www.communityengagedalliance.org.

Note: Indiana Campus Compact was rebranded in 2022 to become Community-Engaged Alliance.

For more information, contact the Franklin College Office of Communications at (317) 738-8185.

POSTED Jan 18, 2023