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Advancing Public Purposes

Seminar

Creating Public Value Through Community Engagement

Thursday, January 22, 2026
5:00 PM - 6:00 PM East Coast USA Time
Location: Archives - Level M4

    Primary Presenter(s)

  • Brian Noland

    President
    East Tennessee State University, United States

    • Co-Presenter(s)

  • Michael Hoff

    Vice Provost
    East Tennessee State University, United States

    PDF
  • KM

    Kimberly McCorkle

    Provost
    East Tennessee State University, United States

  • SM

    Susan McCracken

    Vice Provost for Community Engagement
    East Tennessee State University, United States

Seminar participation is limited to 25 people.

The purpose of strategic planning in nonprofit organizations is to demonstrate public value. Representatives from Eastern Tennessee State University will outline how they used community engagement as a core strategy for improving the lives of the people in their region. They did this by making community-engaged learning a key component of undergraduate learning, particularly in general education courses; creating research centers in public health, nursing, and education that include community participants; and working with state leaders to obtain investments to resource implementation. Over this period, the university has realized three consecutive years of growth in first-time freshmen, increases in retention, and the highest graduation rate in the history of the institution, as well as improved levels of student and employee satisfaction along with record numbers of sponsored program activity.