Author ORCID Identifier
Document Type
Dissertation
Date of Award
2026
Degree Name
Doctor of Education (Ded)
Department
Education
First Advisor
Vassa Grichko
Abstract
Community-engaged scholarship (CES) provides institutions of higher education a way to integrate the core missions of research, teaching, and service. Institutionalizing CES, however, requires a shared definition and understanding of expectations among stakeholders, clear signaling from leaders CES is aligned with strategic priorities, and ongoing cross-campus communication and learning.This study explored how leaders, faculty, and third-space professionals at one university that submitted a first-time application for the Carnegie Classification®’s Elective Classification for Community Engagement understood CES along with what they perceived as supports and barriers to institutionalizing it. Guided by Clark’s (1972) concept of organizational saga and Gioia’s and Chittipeddi’s (1991) concepts of sensemaking and sensegiving in strategic change initiation, this qualitative study was grounded in social constructivism. Data were collected through a document review, recruitment survey, and two rounds of focus groups (Round 1: n = 46; Round 2: n = 29). Inductive coding of Round 1 data resulted in the construction of five themes: (a) definitional ambiguity; (b) institutional mission; (c) workload and evaluation; (d) politics and public perception; and (e) advancement of CES. Round 2 participants were a subset of Round 1 participants, who engaged in sensemaking/giving around their Round 1 experiences and data. Findings highlighted opportunities for the university to strengthen internal communication, clarify expectations associated with CES, and to develop ongoing mechanisms for shared institutional learning and collaborative meaning-making related to CES. Findings also aligned with the feedback the university received on their application to Carnegie Classification®, suggesting an opportunity for institutions seeking to cultivate CES and a community-engaged saga to consider their faculty, leaders and staff as sources of knowledge, even internal consultants.
Subject Categories
Adult and Continuing Education Administration | Educational Administration and Supervision | Higher Education Administration
Keywords
Carnegie Classification, community engagement, community-engaged scholarship, higher education, organizational saga, sensemaking
Number of Pages
153
Publisher
University of South Dakota
Recommended Citation
Biel, Darla, "Mapping an Organizational Saga: An exploration of faculty and leaders' perspectives on community-engaged scholarship" (2026). Dissertations and Theses. 400.
https://red.library.usd.edu/diss-thesis/400
Included in
Adult and Continuing Education Administration Commons, Higher Education Administration Commons