UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN-DEARBORN

DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE, CULTURE, AND COMMUN[CATf N COLLEGE OF ARTS, SCIENCES, AND LI:TTERS

3016 CASL BUILDIN . 4901 EVERGREEN ROAD DEARBORN, MI 48128-2406 rHO E: 313-593-4778 FAX: 313-593-1902

Promotion and Tenure Corrunittee, UM Dearborn College of Business:

I am pleased to write in support of Dr. Joy Beatty's case for promotion and tenure in the College of Business at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. I do so as the fonner faculty director ofUM Dearborn's Civic Engagement Project, a relatively new initiative on campus that has benefited greatly from Professor Beatty's commitment, leadership, and service contributions.

As brief background, the Civic Engagement Project (CEP) started on campus in 2004, when UM Dearborn became a memlJer of the American Democracy Project, an initiative sponsored by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. Perhaps our most significant and tangible impact on campus occurred in 2006, when the Provost's office provided modest stipends for an Academic Service-Learning Faculty Fellow Development Program. Academic service-learning (ASL) is a teaching methodology that utilizes community-based activities as a means of enhancing the learning objectives of a course. In each of the past three years, faculty members have gathered monthly to engage in readings and discussion on the best methods of implementing academic service-learning in their respective courses.

Dr. Beatty was part of the inaugural group of ASL Faculty Fellows, and quickly became a leader in the faculty group. She developed several innovative projects for her students in OB 354, Behavior in Organization, by working closely with community partners such as the United Way for Southeastern Michigan and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan Detroit to ensure that both the needs of their organizations and the educational objectives of the course coincided in significant ways. Unlike many of her Faculty Fellow colleagues who have the luxury of incorporating service-learning in smaller classes with limited enrollments, Professor Beatty has the additional complexity of organizing a variety of projects with several community partners each semester. I have attended several end-of-semester presentations by students in her courses and have been thoroughly impressed with the success of the projects and the student's ability to reflect on their experience in light of both course material and community impact. When I had the opportunity to speak about the Civic Engagement Project to the UM Board of Regents at their May meeting on our campus, Professor Beatty's class was one of two courses I highlighted to the Regents precisely because of the success and impact of this organizational behavior course.

Professor Beatty no doubt describes the specifics of this course and the service-learning projects in more detail in her portfolio. From a broader, programmatic perspective, however, I would higWight how Professor Beatty's work with her students and community partners is one of the finest examples of a faculty member who understands the importance of reciprocity and ensuring that both students and community partners engage in a structured, organized experience that results in both educational and organizational value. Indeed, many of the organizations with whom Professor Beatty has worked have become solid, sustained partners with UM Dearborn on other projects, in no small part because of her initial contribution and commitment to the organization.

In addition, Dr. Beatty's contributions to the Civic Engagement Project have gone well beyond developing this particular course. When I became Faculty Director, I immediately asked her if she would be willing to serve on the Steering Committee for the Civic Engagement Project and was pleased when she agreed to serve the campus in this capacity. She has been an active member of the CEP Steering Committee and a guiding voice on a variety of initiatives: her experiences in OB 354 and her thoughtful approach to ASL have continually improved the Faculty Fellows program; her work with the Student Fellows program has provided clarity as we seek to refme this student leadership opportunity; she was a valuable participant in a working group I led that was charged by Interim Provost Don Bord to explore the possibilities of liM Dearborn applying for the Carnegie classification as an institution of community engagement. In these and a variety of other areas, she has made a significant contribution to the Civic Engagement Project.

Finally, while the connections between Professor Beatty's service contributions to the CEP and her teaching are readily apparent, it is also worth noting that her research agenda dovetails neatly with the goals of the CEP. Her broader research interests in teaching philosophies led to her having an article accepted for publication in a special issue oflnternational Journal of Organizational Analysis devoted to academic service learning. I shared an earlier version of this article with last year's class of Faculty Fellows and participants found it a particular valuable resource as they began thinking about ways to incorporate service learning in their own classes. While I have stepped down as Director and am no longer leading the Fellows group, I know from conversation with the current director, Bill De Genaro, that Professor Beatty's article will be one of the first read by the incoming class.

Because of her outstanding contributions as a teacher, a scholar, and a campus citizen committed to our project, Professor Beatty was the obvious choice to receive the 2008 Michigan Campus Compact (MCC) Faculty/Staff Community Service Learning award, which she was awarded at MCC's annual conference in February 2008. This award is given to the one person on member campus' that have made the most difference in service learning and community engagement through modeling, influence, and instruction on student engagement. Because she was such a truly deserving recipient, Interim Provost Bord made a special effort to ensure the award was recognized and re-presented during the Honors Scholars and Faculty Awards ceremony on campus, the fust time the MCC award has ever been recognized at the Faculty Awards ceremony.

In summary, I believe Dr. Beatty's service contributions epitomize the ways in which service to department, college, and 1llliversity can both enhance and complement the teacher-scholar model. Her professionalism and excellence in teaching and research in organizational behavior and teaching philosophies are strengthening the Civic Engagement Project in a way that furthers the goals of the University and provides value to the community in which we reside. She is an innovative educator, a campus leader in academic service learning, and a valuable asset not only to the College of Business, but to the campus in general.

Sincerely,

Associate Professor Language, Culture and Communication Fonner Faculty Director, Civic Engagement Project University of Michigan - Dearborn