The bi-annual Campus and Community Research Collaborative (CRCC) at Coastal Carolina University is an event meant to enhance reciprocal partnerships between faculty and community members. This year, the event is Nov. 14 from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and coincides with CCU's pending application for the 2024 Carnegie Classification for Community Engagement.

According to Campus Compact, Carnegie Classifications comprise a leading framework for describing institutional diversity in U.S. higher education. The Community Engagement Classification is an elective classification for which institutions may voluntarily apply to be listed.

Carnegie defines community engagement as the collaboration between institutions of higher education and their larger communities (local, regional/state, national, global) for the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources in a context of partnership and reciprocity.

The keynote speaker at CCRC is Ameena Batada, an associate professor of health and wellness at the University of North Carolina at Asheville. She will address "Assessing Impact of Reciprocal Partnerships." Batada is a 2018 recipient of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Inderdisciplinary Research Leaders Fellowship and the 2018 Gulf South Summit Faculty Award for Instruction.

Lindy Studds, a media specialist for the U.S. Census Bureau and CCU graduate, will also present about the 2020 Census.

Past keynote speakers have included Monair McGregor, Ph.D., from the American Cancer Society; Kimberly Harmon with the Waccamaw Area Office of Aging; and Nicholas Davidson from the Department of Health and Environmental Control.

The CCRC is a faculty-driven initiative that fosters opportunities to generate experiential student learning outcomes mutually benefiting research faculty and community partners. The signature of CCRC remains its speed-dating activity. This is a timed event that allows attendees to introduce themselves to others and explain who they are, what they do and what their needs are in a small-group format. Once the time is up, the groups switch and do it all over again.

Faculty are encouraged to bring business cards and other materials to distribute during the speed-dating/networking activity to help connect with other faculty and community partners.

During the event, a memorial tribute will be held for accounting professor Karen Maguire. Since CCRC's inception, her efforts benefited numerous community partners and organizations. Most recently, she presented "Incorporating Volunteer Capacity into Nonprofit Financial Reporting" during the CCRC Spring 2018 event.

CCRC is supported by the Office of the Provost and the Office of the Vice President for Research and Emerging Initiatives.

The event will be in the Alford Ballroom in Atheneum Hall. Pre-registration is required at coastal.edu/ccrc. Call Amy Edmunds at 843-349-2441 or Miranda Brenneman at 843-349-4035 for more information.

Watch a video that explains more about the event and shares stories of those who have attended and benefited directly from it here.