Categorizing Engagement
We're trying to develop a database of public engagement activities at the University of Minnesota, with geographic, type (research, teaching, etc.), and theme information. All of these turn out to be tricky to boil down to a finite set of choices that can be checked off on a web survey. But themes may be hardest of all. In a university that has 20 colleges, about 150 departments, a similar number of graduate programs, and over 200 centers and institutes, how do you choose a reasonable number of themes within which people can categorize their work? We've looked at lists from Michigan State University and Portland State University, and tried to adapt them to local circumstances. Here's one suggested list. It will be interesting to see how it evolves.
- Aging and Gerontology
- Agriculture and Natural Resources
- Arts and Humanities
- Biological and Physical Sciences and Engineering
- Community and Economic Development
- Design, Architecture, Landscape Architecture
- Education and Human Development (preK-12, post-secondary, adult/continuing)
- Environmental Science and Policy
- Equity and Diversity: Racial, Gender, Disability, etc.
- Health Sciences: Medicine, Nursing, Dentistry, Pharmacy
- Human Development (Children, Youth, and Families; developmental psychology and developmental pediatrics)
- Immigration and Refugees, including English as a Second Language
- International Issues
- Law and Justice
- Management, Business, and Labor Relations
- Public Affairs: Urban, Metropolitan, and Regional Issues and Governance (including transportation, housing, and land use policy)
- Public Health and Nutrition
- Public Safety, Security, and Corrections
- Social Services
- Veterinary Medicine