Lou Swanson, Colorado State University Vice President for Engagement, was recently named to the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities Engagement Planning Team.

Last November, the APLU Board of Directors created the initiative on engagement, which includes representatives from APLU’s Commission on Engagement and Outreach and the board on Agricultural Assembly’s Agricultural Experiment Stations and Extension services.

“University engagement is one of the pillars of our land-grant mission, and we take seriously our responsibility to serve Colorado and its communities,” said Colorado State University President and CSU System Chancellor Tony Frank. “Almost a decade ago, we chose to aggressively rethink this core mission’s structure and culture to better meet the needs of our constituents. Our current trajectory advances the scholarship of engagement for teaching and research, decentralizes CSU Extension to be community grounded and demand driven, and through the pedagogical and technical innovations of CSU Online, ensures that people worldwide have access to an excellent CSU education. Lou Swanson’s participation on this national APLU team is recognition of his leadership and CSU’s reputation in university engagement.”

The team has been tasked with recommending a multi-year process for public research universities to significantly expand their student, economic development and engaged scholarship with the publics they serve.

During the past decade, public universities have accelerated their teaching and research missions with their engagement missions. This team will focus on emerging practices for public higher education. Eventually, the task force will be charged with envisioning a new, broadly inclusive definition for university engagement, and will also be charged with making recommendations for university actions to realize this vision.