Why Public Engagement?

As citizens and as scholars, we have an interest in today’s debates about public policy, conversations about the state of the world, and imagining a different future. We have the ability and the responsibility for participating and engaging with our fellow human beings in the service of the common good.

Our role goes beyond being members of the larger public. Most universities include a call to service to the larger community in the expectations of faculty members. Those of us employed at public institutions have an added responsibility to serve the public interest. Furthermore, many of us were educated at public universities or have received state-sponsored assistance to finance our education, and we have a particular responsibility to give back to the larger community.

We have a role in making the world a better place.

About the Public Engagement Project:

The Public Engagement Project was founded in 2007 by social, behavioral, humanities, and life scientists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst who wanted to expand the engagement of scholars with the world outside the academy. Faculty from the Center for Public Policy & Administration, the Center for Research on Families, the Department of Sociology, and the Psychology of Peace & Violence Program in the Department of Psychology were involved from the beginning.