Professor Audrey Jaeger Inducted into Academy of Community Engagement Scholarship

NC State College of Education Professor Audrey Jaeger has been inducted into the Academy of Community Engagement Scholarship, which recognizes exceptional leaders and scholars in the field of community engagement scholarship. She is a professor of higher education, Alumni Distinguished Graduate Professor and executive director of the National Initiative for Leadership and Institutional Effectiveness.

Induction into the Academy of Community Engagement Scholarship is determined by three criteria: excellence in contributions to the theory and practice of community engagement scholarship; excellence in collaborative work that has improved society; and demonstrated willingness to join actively within the academy to develop policy-focused studies and analysis of major social, economic and environmental issues.

Jaeger’s research examines relationships and experiences among faculty and students that illuminate issues of transition, access, climate, agency and civic and community engagement. Among her many publications is “The First Wave of Carnegie Classified Institutions Institutionalizing Community Engagement in Higher Education: The First Wave of Carnegie Classified Institutions,” a book she co-edited that addresses the status of community engagement.

In addition, Jaeger is a founding member of the Academy of Community Engagement Scholarship, serves as a Community Engagement Faculty Fellow, and leads EDGES (Education and Discovery Grounded in Engaged Scholarship), a community-engaged faculty development project. She also leads Envisioning Excellence for Community College Leadership, an initiative designed to enhance and expand NC State’s historic relationship with North Carolina’s community colleges.

Jaeger earned her Ph.D. in higher education administration from New York University. Before joining the NC State College of Education, she worked in higher education administration at New York University’s Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service and Bucknell University.

Two other scholars with ties to NC State were also part of the 2017 class inducted into the Academy of Community Engagement Scholarship: Ellis B. Cowling, professor emeritus of forestry and environment resources at the College of Natural Resources; and Jim Zuiches, emeritus professor of sociology and anthropology at the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and former vice chancellor for the Office of Extension, Engagement and Economic Development who retired in 2011.

The inductees were honored during a ceremony at the Academy of Community Engagement Scholarship’s annual conference earlier in the fall.