Annual Engaged Scholarship Symposium

Since 2017, the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility has sponsored an annual symposium on the topic of engaged scholarship. These symposia are designed to educate, support, and foster a community around engaged scholarship at Swarthmore College and beyond. 

9th Annual Engaged Scholarship Symposium | April 23-25, 2025

This year, the Symposium will take on a slightly different form as we host the first in-person gathering since the pandemic. The Lang Center at Swarthmore College, in collaboration with the Partners for Campus-Community Engagement (PCCE), will convene leaders from liberal arts colleges for a two-day Symposium at Swarthmore College.

This event will focus on:

  • Exploring the meaning of engaged liberal arts and building a shared understanding of engaged scholarship in the liberal arts context.
  • Addressing key strategic, structural, and operational challenges while examining trends shaping the future of engaged scholarship.
  • Collaboratively designing actionable strategies to advance engaged scholarship across liberal arts colleges.

For more information and to explore ways to get involved, please contact Nimesh Ghimire, Senior Fellow at the Lang Center.

Past Symposia

  • 8th Annual Engaged Scholarship Symposium (April 16 - 18, 2024, online) | Session Recordings
    • April 16 | Where We Go From Here: A Conversation With Emerging Scholar | Collaboration with Campus Compact, featuring Agnes Scott College, Swarthmore College, and George Washington University.
    • April 17 | Making Our Work Public | Collaboration with Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities (CUMU), featuring University of South Carolina Upstate, Indiana University, and Towson University.
    • April 18 | Innovations in Engaged Scholarship | Collaboration with Engagement Scholarship Consortium (ESC), featuring Swarthmore College, Texas A&M University, & Purdue University.
  • 7th Annual Engaged Scholarship Symposium (April 25 - 27, 2023, online) | Session Recordings 
    • April 25 | Equity and Engaged Scholarship | Collaboration with Campus Compact, featuring Drexel University, Mohave Community College, University of Nebraska - Omaha, and Swarthmore College
    • April 26 | The Role of Engaged Scholarship at Anchor Institutions in an Era of Uncertainty | Collaboration with Partners for Campus-Community Engagement, featuring SUNY Buffalo State, Gannon University, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, University of Pittsburgh, and Swarthmore College
    • April 27 | Innovations in Engaged Scholarship | Collaboration with Engagement Scholarship Consortium, featuring University of Alabama, Michigan State University, and Swarthmore College.
  • 6th Annual Engaged Scholarship Symposium (April 11-13, 2022, online)   
    • April 11, Noon-1:30pm — Place-Based Community Engagement | Participating institutions: Pennsylvania College of Technology, University of Pittsburgh, Swarthmore College | Watch the video
    • April 12, Noon-1:30pm — Faculty-Led Innovations in Engaged Scholarship | Participating institutions: Cornell University, Penn State University, Swarthmore College | Watch the video
    • April 13, Noon-1:30pm— Decolonization and Indigenous Knowledges | Participating institutions: Blackfeet Community College, University of Kansas, Swarthmore College | Watch the video 
  • 5th Annual Engaged Scholarship Symposium (March 16-18, 2021, online)
    • This virtual symposium created a space to share national examples of and approaches to Engaged Scholarship, particularly the innovations and adaptations that emerged as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Participating institutions included Brown University, Duke University, Miami Dade College, Portland State University, University of San Diego, and Tulane University. View the full program and recordings. 
  • Engaging Philadelphia through Scholarship & Teaching (February 7, 2020 @ Philadelphia City Hall) 
    • Featuring faculty from Swarthmore College and St. Joseph's University and community leaders from Serenity House and Face-to-Face. This event was co-sponsored by St. Joseph's University and made possible in part through the generosity of the Board of Campus Compact New York and Pennsylvania and the Mayor's Office of Philadelphia. 
  • 3rd Annual Engaged Scholarship Symposium (February 20, 2019)
    • Keynote: Senior Editor at the University Chicago Press, Elizabeth Branch Dyson, "How Ideas Gain Traction: The Book as Engaged Scholarship" 
  • Engaged Scholarship for the Public Good: Building Diverse Constituencies (February 21, 2018) 
  • Envisioning Public/Engaged Scholarship at Swarthmore (February 3, 2017)