Community Engagement Professionals as Inquiring Practitioners for Organizational Learning

Abstract

This essay examines the inquiry activities that community engagement professionals (CEPs) can utilize to support organizational learning. We advocate for an inquiry approach that focuses on improvement and informing community-engaged practices and organizational change. By unpacking why inquiry is imperative for CEPs and outlining the tensions that may arise, we introduce three concepts: inquiry consists of different yet connected activities including, but not limited to, assessing student learning; CEPs are key knowledge workers in higher education; and, finally, CEPs can and should leverage inquiry to inform institutional planning and systematically align policies, processes, and procedures to demonstrate our public missions for society and other key stakeholders.