Community Engagement Organization Memberships

NIU is a member of several national and international organizations that advance civic and community engagement in higher education. Each one has a particular focus, so we provide this guide to understand the benefits of and how to make the most of our institutional membership.

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Know the Networks

Advancing Research Impact in Society (ARIS)

Best for: Broader Impacts • Research Impact • Societal Impact

ARIS advances the impacts of research for the betterment of society and the expansion of research. They elevate research impact by providing high-quality resources and professional development opportunities for researchers to address societal impact in their grant proposals and implementation. ARIS can help you with the Broader Impacts section of your grant proposal, showing how your reearch will benefit society and achieve specific outcomes. Learn more about NIU and ARIS.

NIU's ARIS Membership Benefits:

• Discounted rates on certification programs.
• Exclusive member-only trainings.
• Members-only community forum to connect with peers.
• Early access to workshop and events.
• Access to premium resources such as downloadable guides and templates.

Campus Compact

Best for: Engaged Teaching • Partnerships • Faculty Development • P&T

Campus Compact is the largest and oldest higher education association dedicated to higher education civic and community engagement. As a leader and connector in higher education, Campus Compact offers professional development and convenings, advances research and best practices, nurtures connections and networks, builds capacity for people, campuses, and communities, and advocates for resources that enable this collective work.

NIU's Campus Compact Membership Benefits:

• Professional development opportunities for faculty and staff—including regular webinars, in-person events, and training programs.
• Programs that empower students to take action, nurture their passions, and provide them with the on-ramps they need to get involved in their communities and actively engage in our democracy.
• Tools and resources that facilitate institutional action & build capacity for campuses to strengthen their civic mission.
• Opportunities to work collectively with campuses across the country to advance policy, advocacy, and narrative change that reinforces the foundational role of colleges and universities play in our democracy.
• Affinity networks and opportunities for regional connection that break down silos between institutions and allow for peer-to-peer learning, collaboration, and exchange.
• Access to of-the-moment research and publications that lift up new and leading-edge voices on topics like community-based teaching, campus-community partnership development and more.
• Partnerships and funding opportunities with leading foundations, national organizations, and institutional partners to scale impact and support innovation across higher education.

Engagement Scholarship Consortium (ESC)

Best for: Engaged Scholarship • Funding • Conferences • Recognition • Networks

ESC is composed of higher education member institutions, a mix of state-public and private institutions. Their goal is to work collaboratively to build strong university-community partnerships anchored in the rigor of scholarship and designed to help build community capacity.

NIU's ESC Membership Benefits:

• Attend the Annual Conference at a discounted rate.
• Training for graduate students and new faculty. Professional development for professional staff.
• Opportunity to apply for individual and institutional awards and recognition.
• Grant programs to help facilitiate positive outcomes for scholars and communities.
• Research Collaborations with other member institutions.
• Access to two peer reviewed journals.
• Leadership opportunities on ESC committees.

Institute for Citizens and Scholars (C&S)

Best for: Civic Engagement • Research • Scholarship • Scholarly Community

C&S partners with college presidents, faculty, and students to build a strong civic culture where every student can practice the essential civic skills they need to become engaged citizens.

NIU's C&S Membership Benefits:

• Fellowships and awards for research and career advancement.
• Frameworks, tools and expert guidance to integrate civic-building across the full student journey.
• Cohort programs to advance civic learning and productive dialogue on campus.
• Faculty institutes to integrate civic skills into coursework and campus life.

International Association for Research on Service-Learning & Community Engagement (IARSLCE)

Best for: Research • Scholarship • Methods • Scholarly Community

IARSLCE's primary purpose is to cultivate, encourage and present research across all engagement forms and educational levels. The association promotes high quality trans-disciplinary research across a wide range of approaches and forms and builds the capacity of scholars, practitioners and community partners to engage in such research.

NIU's IARSLCE Membership Benefits:

• Connect with Publicly Engaged Scholarship leaders that continuously strive to keep the field current, such as the agenda-setting work that will have an impact on the next 10 years.
• Access to archived webinars on the IARSLCE Members Only page.
• Opportunities to network and build with other scholars on IARSCLE committees.
• Invitations to IARSLCE-developed webinars and other professional development opportunities.
• Discounted IARSLCE conference registration.

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Quick Reference Guide

Use this at-a-glance guide to find the national resource that best fits what you want to do. NIU has university-wide memberships to each of these organizations.

If you want to...	Start here	What you'll find
Develop community-engaged research	IARSLCE + ESC	Research approaches, engaged scholarship resources, examples, scholarly communities and connections.
Strengthen research impact & Broader Impacts	ARIS	Broader Impacts planning, research and societal impact, public engagement, tools and training.
Develop community-engaged teaching	Campus Compact	Engaged pedagogy, course design, reflection, partnership practices and faculty development.
Build reciprocal community partnerships	Campus Compact + ESC	Partnership principles, reciprocity, mutual benefit, community voice and collaborative approaches.
Publish and present your scholarship	IARSLCE + ESC	Conferences, scholarly networks, dissemination opportunities and peer learning.
Document engagement for P&T	Campus Compact	Guidance, examples and resources for documenting and evaluating community-engaged scholarship.
Find funding	ESC + ARIS + C&S	Engaged scholarship grants plus resources for incorporating Broader Impacts into externally funded research.
Gain recognition	ESC + Campus Compact + IARSLCE + C&S	Awards and national recognition for engaged scholarship, teaching and partnerships.
Build your professional network	ARIS + ESC + Campus Compact + IARSLCE + C&S	Conferences, communities of practice, SIGs, webinars, professional development and collaborators.

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Not sure where to start? Start at NIU.

OERD and campus partners can help connect you with the right NIU or national resource for your teaching, research, creative activity or community partnership.