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Professor blends teaching, research and community engagement

Michelle R. Dunlap, an associate professor of human development and chair of the Human Development Department at Connecticut College, has been named the 2008 recipient of the New England Resource Center for Higher Education´s Ernest J. Lynton Award for the Scholarship of Engagement. The award recognizes faculty members who connect their expertise and scholarship to community outreach.

August 22, 2008

Professor Michelle R. Dunlap always has a full car. In fact, she insists on it. Whenever she attends one of the many community, cultural or campus events that pack her calendar, she uses the opportunity to take young people who would not have otherwise attended. She brings local teens to lectures on campus, or takes them to Spirit of Broadway plays. She takes her college students to NAACP banquets or to local churches.

"I think it is important to help educate the young people in our community," Dunlap, chair of the Human Development Department, said. "And my time with my students means an awful lot to me. It is really a mutual exchange - I receive as much as I give, and it is very rewarding for me."

Dunlap´s unique ability to make connections between her teaching, her research and her community involvement earned her the honor of being named the 2008 recipient of the New England Resource Center for Higher Education´s Ernest J. Lynton Award for the Scholarship of Engagement.

"We reward what we call the integration of faculty roles - faculty roles defined around teaching, research and service," John Saltmarsh, director of the New England Resource Center for Higher Education (NERCHE), said. "Michelle integrates these roles wonderfully, in really deep and authentic ways."

Dunlap´s success stems from her commitment to service learning - she teaches it, she studies it, she lives it. A professor of human development at the college since 1994, Dunlap has helped lead the effort to make service learning an integral part of the Connecticut College curriculum. For years, she has sent her students into the community to achieve a unique understanding of human development by becoming part of the development process. And she has learned from their experience, studying how her students adjust when they venture out of the classroom - and into cultures often very different from their own - to complete service learning projects. Her books on the subject, "Reaching Out to Children and Families: Students Model Effective Community Service" (2000) and "Community Involvement: Theoretical Approaches and Educational Initiatives" (2002), are widely used by other professors who incorporate service learning into their curriculum.

But what makes Dunlap a true leader is her own commitment to community engagement.

"Professor Dunlap is motivated on a personal level to improve the quality of life for others by understanding and explicating how human beings encounter challenges of all sorts and how they learn from those challenges," Connecticut College President Leo I. Higdon Jr. wrote in a letter nominating Dunlap for the Lynton Award.

Dunlap´s involvement is extensive - she has served on numerous boards for community organizations, such as United Community Family Services and the United Way, and served as a consultant for even more. She teaches a monthly parenting class at her church and has given close to 50 speeches at various community events. In her field, she has held positions with the New England Psychological Association, the Association for Women in Psychology and the American Association of Higher Education. On campus, she has served on dozens of committees and has co-presented with 24 students at 15 different conferences.

Still, Dunlap´s greatest impact may stem not from any of her organized services, but from her interactions with the young people she so enjoys.

"My favorite thing is taking a carload of young people to cultural events. Or, I´ll bring them to campus and let them shadow me," Dunlap said. "God gives me the opportunity to play a role in other people´s lives, and that is very rewarding."

Dunlap will be presented with the Lynton Award at the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities´ annual conference at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center in October.

For more information contact: Amy Martin (860) 439-2526; a.martin@conncoll.edu