June 2026 Newsletter

Natalie Granados, conservator for the UConn Library, sews a mannequin together in the library's Conservation Lab on Thursday, April 23, 2026. (Sydney Herdle/UConn Photo)

Connecticut's civic landscape is rich, but often invisible. Organizations doing vital work in voter engagement, civic education, community organizing, and democratic participation are spread across the state, often unaware of others doing similar work nearby.

Hosted by the National Civic League, CT Humanities, the Office of the Secretary of State, Connecticut Democracy Center, Commission on Women, Children, Seniors, Equity & Opportunity, and Supporting Organizing Work-CT, this call brings together Connecticut civic and democracy organizations to energize civic engagement across Connecticut

- Share updates from Connecticut's civic landscape

- Discuss the forthcoming Connecticut Civic Health Assessment, an effort to understand the state of civic life in Connecticut and identify where we can strengthen it together

- Explore the Healthy Democracy Ecosystem Map, a national tool that makes the civic sector visible and helps organizations find each other, identify gaps, and build connections

- Build community and connect with colleagues doing related work across Connecticut

This conversation is part of a broader Summer of Civics, a statewide push to map, connect, and energize the civic ecosystem ahead of America's 250th anniversary.

REGISTER HERE

UConn Hartford's CoLab grand opening at the Hartford Public Library was on June 1.

The CoLab brings together university expertise, community partners, and local knowledge to support civic engagement, collaborative research, and lasting community impact.

As we look ahead to Fall 2026, UConn Hartford invites community organizations, students, faculty, and residents to help shape future projects that advance opportunity and strengthen our capital city.

Contact colab at colab@uconn.edu.

On Tuesday, May 19, Service Learning Fellows spent an engaging morning with Professor Fiona Vernal and her partners at the West Indian Social Club. Professor Vernal guided the group through her research journey, a tour of the Caribbean Heritage Museum, and a discussion of current community projects.

Fellows learned about the exhibits Finding a Place, Maintaining Ties: Greater Hartford’s West Indians and A Home Away From Home, which document the history of West Indian migrants in the Greater Hartford area and helped lay the groundwork for the Caribbean Heritage Museum.

Participants also explored the TheirStory oral history platform firsthand by creating accounts, navigating the archive, and experimenting with its tools. TheirStory supports every stage of oral history preservation, allowing users to record, transcribe, organize, and share interviews.

The experience demonstrated how community partnerships, oral history, and digital storytelling can preserve and share the rich histories of Caribbean communities in Connecticut.

UConn faculty and staff are invited to join the internal Age-Friendly University (AFU) Working Group, a collaborative space dedicated to advancing age-friendly initiatives across our campuses.

This internal group at UConn aims to foster cross-campus collaboration, share resources, and provide updates on ongoing AFU efforts. Meetings will be held quarterly and are open to all faculty and staff interested in promoting inclusive, age-friendly practices at UConn.

The working group is led by Lisa Kenyon-Pesce, Recruitment and Community Engagement Core Manager at the Center on Aging, the UConn OAIC Pepper Center, and UConn Health, with support from the Office of Outreach and Engagement.

Meeting Topics Include:

• Advancing AFU Principles: Share ongoing work aligned with the 10 AFU principles and explore ways to evaluate and strengthen age-friendly practices across campuses.
• Community Outreach & Engagement: Highlight opportunities to connect and collaborate with older adult communities.
• Policy Development: Support the development and enhancement of university policies focused on accessibility, inclusion, and engagement for older adults.

Please email Lisa Kenyon-Pesce at kenyon-pesce@uchc.edu or engagement@uconn.edu with any questions.

The Office of Outreach and Engagement is excited to launch a new book club focused on broader impacts and community-engaged scholarship.

Our first selection will be The Handbook of Broader Impacts. Through this book club, we hope to facilitate interdisciplinary conversations about broader impacts, community engagement, and the role of scholarship in addressing community needs.

Faculty, staff, and campus partners from all UConn campuses are invited to express interest. Meeting dates, format, and platform will be determined based on participant interest and availability to ensure broad campus representation.

To join or learn more, please email engagement@uconn.edu with your interest.

UConn’s Health Communication Research Lab will be hosting a free in-person workshop “Alcohol Harm Reduction Through Effective Communication” on June 25, 2006. 

We encourage all faculty and staff engaged in community-engaged scholarship to be included in our Engaged Scholar Directory and Community Engagement Program Directory.

These databases serve as a central hub for discovering and connecting with UConn’s community engagement efforts. It highlights programs and scholars whose work strengthens partnerships, fosters collaboration, and advances the university’s commitment to public engagement. Use this resource to explore ongoing initiatives, identify opportunities for collaboration, learn more about the people and projects driving community engagement at UConn, and share more about your work as a community engagement scholar.

Engaged Scholar Directory

The Engaged Scholar Directory showcases UConn faculty and staff whose research, teaching, creative work, and service integrate community engagement. This directory is designed to help internal and external partners connect with scholars who are advancing collaborative, impactful work across diverse fields.

Explore the directory to discover new partnership opportunities, or submit your own profile to share your work.

Community Engagement Program Directory

The Program Directory showcases UConn's initiatives that serve communities across Connecticut and beyond. These programs embody the university’s mission to apply knowledge, resources, and innovation for the public good.

Browse the directory to learn about current projects, find programs that align with your interests, or submit information about a program you lead.

Email engagement@uconn.edu with any questions.

In an effort to support greater engagement efforts at public and land-grant universities, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) released a report outlining a public engagement agenda. The report, Public Purpose, Renewed: Future-Leading Engagement in Higher Education, is a follow-up on engagement efforts since a landmark 1999 Kellogg Commission report called on public and land-grant universities to reimagine their role in society. 

Public Purpose, Renewed traces the trajectory of engagement work at public and land-grant universities over the past two and a half decades, from isolated efforts led by individuals to focused, institution-wide commitments that are central to these institutions' missions.

Read Full Report

Registration is now open for the 2026 APLU Annual Meeting in San Antonio, Texas, on November 15-17.

Join colleagues to explore how Our Enduring Mission continues to guide and strengthen the work of public and land-grant universities.

Over the course of three days, attendees will have the opportunity to connect, share, and learn with colleagues from other public and land-grant universities on a range of critical topics.

See featured speakers, view the agenda, and register using this link.

The Engagement Scholarship Consortium will hold its 2026 conference October 7-8 in Knoxville, Tennessee (pre-conference programs: October 5-6). Hosted by the University of Tennessee - Knoxville and the institutions of the ESC's South Region, the conference is being organized around the theme "Changing Lives and Improving Society: Data-Driven Engagement and Innovation." ESC 2026 will be a place for engaging conversations about the many ways we work collaboratively to define and build social and economic prosperity.

Pre-conference opportunities offer participants additional ways to connect, reflect, and strengthen their practice before the full conference begins. Designed for emerging scholars, university leaders, engagement professionals, and community-engaged practitioners, these sessions offer focused opportunities for professional development, peer learning, and deeper exploration of engagement work.

This year's featured pre-conference programs will include:

·   Emerging Engagement Scholars Workshop (see application link above)

·   Outreach and Engagement Practitioners Network Workshop

·   Engagement Academy for University Leaders

Click the link below to learn more about registration rates and deadlines for attendees from ESC member institutions and other universities, students, and community partners.

Learn More and Register



Registration deadline: September 30, 2026

Community-Engaged Learning Course Attributes and Designations

ESC published a new session summary report on April 22, 2026, that synthesizes key insights from an ESC Engagement Exchange session on community-engaged learning course designations, attributes, and notations. The report is comprised of three parts:

1. Structural questions that must be addressed when establishing or revising a CEL designation

2. Dynamics to be aware of that affect whether designation systems succeed or erode over time

3. Ideas for implementation that have proved to be effective or worth testing

Read Full Report

Journal Editor Call for Applications

The Association for Advancing Participatory Sciences is inviting applications for Editor-in-Chief of its academic journal, Citizen Science: Theory and Practice.



Citizen Science is an online-only, open-access, and peer-reviewed journal that advances the global field of practice by providing a central space for scholarly communications across multiple disciplines.

Candidates with expertise in any aspect of the participatory sciences (including the social sciences and the humanities) are welcome. Required qualifications include:

·   Prior editorial or extensive experience reviewing articles for academic journals

·   An active and relevant publication record

·   Fluency in English with a commitment to supporting multiple languages

·   Ability to facilitate workflows via online journal management systems

·   Strong leadership and professional communication skills

The Editor-in-Chief will serve as the first and final point of review for articles, finalize decisions, and act as a front-line representative of the journal.

The position will provide an annual stipend of $4,000-$5,000, as well as travel and registration support for the Association for Advancing Participatory Sciences conference.

Learn More and Apply

Application deadline: August 15, 2026

Journal Special Issue Calls for Submissions

Community Science

Special issue: Transdisciplinary Collaboration for Sustainable Agriculture

Submission deadline: August 31, 2026

Research Involvement and Engagement

Special issue: Patients and Publications: Expanding Perspectives in Research

Submission deadline: November 15, 2026

Public Humanities

Special issue: Scholarship Under Attack

Submission deadline: December 18, 2026

Catalyst Journal

Special issue: Our Democratic Imagination

Submission deadline: December 31, 2026

Leonard I. Krimerman, a distinguished philosophy professor emeritus at UConn, passed away on December 31, 2025. His legacy lives on through the Krimerman Community Service Grants, established to advance students’ civic engagement. 

On April 30, the inaugural cohort of grant recipients was recognized and celebrated.  

The following four students were awarded a grant of up to $500 to support projects that address pressing social issues: 

• Bryce Turner ’26 (CLAS) examined the impact of Windham Hospital’s closure of its Labor & Delivery unit on maternal healthcare access and community trust in Willimantic. 

• Charli Hughes ’28 (ENGR & CLAS) worked with Covenant Soup Kitchen to address transportation insecurity among unhoused and housing-insecure residents of the greater Willimantic area. 

• Nayatie Gabriel ’28 addressed environmental racism by establishing and maintaining green spaces. 

• Sam Arevalo-Hoefer ’26 (CLAS) examined how changing statewide and federal policies shape the lives of Latin American immigrants in Connecticut. 

Read more.

Through a service-learning partnership with UConn Student Health and Wellness, students in an organic chemistry lab at UConn Hartford applied course concepts to public health issues affecting their peers.

This spring, UConn Hartford students gathered for presentations on public health issues affecting college-age adults, including vaping, Adderall misuse, and the effects of social media on the brain.

But the speakers were not outside experts or public health professionals. They were fellow students, using what they had learned in an organic chemistry lab to help their peers better understand the science behind those issues.

The presentations were part of a service-learning project built into an organic chemistry lab course taught by Priya Shah ’09 Ph.D., associate professor-in-residence of chemistry at UConn Hartford. In partnership with UConn Student Health and Wellness (SHaW), students in Shah’s course used chemistry concepts to create educational materials for their campus community while gaining hands-on experience in research, communication, and real-world problem-solving.

Read more.